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MEMOIRS 

OF THE 

LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE 

OF 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 










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7/ MEMOIRS 

or 

THE LIFE, 

WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 

OF 

SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

ji . ? . _ 

BY LORD TEIGNMOUTHj, 


FROM THE CLASSIC PRESS. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS 


WM. POYNTELL, & Co. 









PRINTED BY ROBERT CARR, 






TO LADY JONES. 


Madam, 

I have the honour to present to your 
Ladyship the Memoirs of the Life of Sir 
William Jones; and it will afford me the 
sincerest pleasure to know that the expectations 
which induced you to request me to undertake 
this work have not been disappointed by the 
perusal of it. 

I have the honour to be, 

Madam, 

Your Ladyship’s most obedient 
humble Servant, 


Clapham, 
June 20,1804. 


TEIGNMOUTH. 


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PREFACE 


IN presenting the public with an account of the 
life of Sir William Jones, I feel a particular anxiety 
to guard against the charge of presumption, for ail under^ 
taking, which may be thought to require a more than 
ordinary share of learning and abilities. I hope, there¬ 
fore, to have credit for a declaration, that nothing but 
the earnest solicitation of Lady Jones, who knew my 
affection for her husband when living, and my unabated 
regard for his memory, and who conceived that these 
qualifications might supply the deficiency of more 
essential talents, could have prevailed upon me to enter 
upon a literary career, so foreign to the habits of a life 
of which more than fifty years are now elapsed. 

It may be proper to notice the materials which I have 
used in this compilation, and to explain the plan which 
I have adopted in the arrangement of them. The first 
is a single sheet, written by Sir William Jones, con¬ 
taining short notices of his situation and occupations, 
during every year of his life. It is, indeed, extended 
beyond the date of his existence, to the 50th year; 
opposite to which are the words if God please y 

are inserted. It appears to have been hastily written, a 
few months only before his death; and although the 
dates are sometimes inaccurate, and the notices too 
brief to supply more than a reference, it suggested 
inquiries, which have sometimes terminated satisfac¬ 
torily, though more frequently in disappointment. This 
paper, however, dictated the plan of the work; and I 




VI 


PREFACE. 


have endeavoured, as far as.my materials permitted, to 
trace the life of Sir William Jones, year by year. 

For the first twenty-two years of it, my authorities 
are ample and satisfactory: they consist principally of 
memoranda, written by Sir William himself: and, in 
describing the occurrences of this period, I have 
frequently availed myself of his own words. I wish, 
indeed, that I could have used them exclusively; but 
the paper is not altogether in a form to admit of 
publication. 

The account of the last twelve years of his life, in 
India, is chiefly supplied from my own recollection, 
assisted by information collected from his writings and 
correspondence. 

Of the events of his life, between 1778, his twenty 
second year, and the date of his embarkation for India, 
in 1783, my information is less complete, although I have 
spared no diligence in endeavouring to collect all that 
could be obtained. I was in hopes that the recollection 
of his contemporaries at Oxford, where he occasionally 
resided, until he left England, might have supplied some 
material anecdotes, and that further information might 
have been procured from his companions in West¬ 
minster Hall, or on the circuit; but my researches 
have had little success, and I am chiefly indebted to his 
correspondence for the information which I have been 
able to communicate. 

In the arrangement of these materials, it was my wish, 
as far as possible, to make Sir William Jones describe 
himself; and, with this view, I have introduced his 
letters into the body of the Memoirs. They develop his 
occupations, hopes, pursuits, and feelings; and although 
the narrative, from the introduction of them, may lose 
something, in point of connection, this inconvenience, 
I flatter myself, will be more than compensated by the 


PREFACE. 


vii 


letters themselves. By this mode they will excite an 
interest, which they might have failed to produce, if the 
substance or subjects of them only had been interwoven 
into the narrative, with a reference to the letters them¬ 
selves in the Appendix. 

This arrangement has, however, imposed upon me 
the necessity of translating many of the letters of Sir 
William Jones, and his learned correspondents, from 
the Latin or French; and I have endeavoured to give 
the sense of them, in a plain and familiar style. But I 
must warn the reader, that he is to expect nothing more 
in these translations; and that those who are qualified 
to peruse the original letters of Sir William Jones will 
find in them an elegance which I do not pretend to 
transfuse into my version of them. Some few sentences 
of the original letters have been purposely omitted in 
the translation, and many passages of the originals them¬ 
selves have been suppressed. 

The Latin letters of Sir William Jones are printed 
in the Appendix; and it is further proper to observe, 
that, in consequence of interlineations, corrections, 
erasures, and mutilation from time, I could not always 
ascertain the exact words which he ultimately adopted. 
In such cases I have been compelled to exercise my 
own judgment; and I desire the reader to notice this 
remark, lest any inaccuracy of mine should be imputed 
to a man, who was equally qualified to guide the taste 
of the elegant, and correct the errors of the learned. 

To elucidate the life, occupations, and opinions, of 
Sir William Jones, was the principal object which I 
had in view, in the selection of the letters now pre¬ 
sented to the public; some have been inserted, as 
calculated, in my opinion, to afford entertainment to the 
reader. I am very sensible that many of these letters 
relate to topics not generally interesting. Lngaged in 


Viii 


PREFACE, 


literary pursuits, from his earliest youth, extending 
them with ardour during his life, and never losing sight 
of them under any accumulation of business, the letters 
of Sir William Jones necessarily refer to habits so dear 
to him, and so long established: and I must request the 
reader to carry this remark with him to the perusal of 
his correspondence throughout, and particularly of the 
letters written by him in Bengal, which frequently 
relate to Indian literature, as well as to subjects and 
occupations peculiar to that country. 

The Memoirs and Appendix contain some original 
compositions of Sir William Jones, which have not 
hitherto been published ; they are not of equal im¬ 
portance with those of which the public are in posses¬ 
sion ; there are still more, which I have not ventured to 
print. 

It would have been easy to have enlarged the size of 
this volume ; <but, having no ambition to extend it 
beyond its proper limits, I have confined myself as 
closely as I could to the object I had in view....that of 
elucidating the life and opinions of Sir William Jones. 
With this rule constantly in my recollection, I have 
avoided dissertations on*the events of the times. The 
notice'which I have taken of characters, incidentally 
mentioned, is brief and explanatory only; and I have 
suppressed many observations, which would have added 
more to the bulk of the Memoirs than to the informa¬ 
tion or entertainment of the reader. 

I have now given such explanation, on the subject of 
the Memoirs, as appeared to me necessary; but I cannot 
conclude the Preface, without mentioning some in¬ 
formation which materially affects an important passage 
in these Memoirs, and which I received from Bengal, 
long after it had been printed. 


PREFACE. 


IX 


The passage alluded to is stated to be an exact trans¬ 
lation from one of the mythological books of the Hindus, 
it first appeared in a note, annexed, by Sir William 
Jones, to an Essay on Egypt and the Nile , in the 3d vol. 
of the Asiatic Researches, by lieutenant, now captain, 
Wilford; and relates to Noah (under the designation 
of Satyavrata) and his three sons. 

Captain Wilford has since had the mortification 
and regret to discover, that he was imposed upon by a 
learned Hindu, who assisted his investigations; that the 
Pur ana , in which he actually and carefully read the 
passage, which he communicated to Sir William Jones, 
as an extract from it, does not contain it, and that it 
was interpolated by the dextrous introduction of a 
forged sheet, discoloured, and prepared for the purpose 
of deception; and which, having served this purpose, 
was afterwards withdrawn. 

The uncommon anxiety of captain Wilford to re¬ 
examine all the authorities quoted in his essay, led to 
the detection of the imposition; and he immediately 
determined to publish it to the world, in another essay, 
which he was then preparing, and which I understand 
to be now printing in Bengal. To guard against 
the effects of any accident, which might prevent the 
execution of this determination, he communicated the 
circumstance to his friends, that it might eventually be 
made known to the public; and, in the explanation 
now submitted to them, I only anticipate the solicitude 
of captain Wilford, to expose the imposition which 
has been practised on him. 

The reader will find mention, in these Memoirs, of 
an unsuccessful attempt of the Hindus, to impose, upon 
Sir William Jones, a forged Sanscrit book, on Oaths. 

The same sagacity which detected the fraud, in this 
instance, might have discovered the forgery of the 


X 


PREFACE. 


pundit employed by Mr. Wilford, if the original docu¬ 
ment had been submitted to the inspection of Sir 
William Jones. In this country the fabrications of a 
Chatterton escaped, for a season, the penetration of the 
learned and acute. 

In the Postscript to the Memoirs, I have omitted to 
mention, in its proper place, that a monument was 
erected at Oxford, to the memory of Sir William Jones, 
by a subscription of the gentlemen residing in Bengal, 
who had received their education at the university 
there, and at Cambridge. The inscription on the 
elegant monument, executed by Flaxman, at the expense 
of Lady Jones, and placed in the anti-chamber to the 
Chapel of University College, Oxford, is annexed to 
the Preface. 

It has frequently been remarked, that the characters 
of very eminent men cannot be closely examined, with¬ 
out a considerable diminution of the respect which 
their general fame has excited. 

From whatever source this remark may have pro- 
ceded, or to whatever degree of truth it may be entitled, 
I cannot but express a solicitude, that it may derive no 
confirmation from the work now presented to the public. 
Impressed with admiration, respect, and esteem, for the 
memory of Sir William Jones, whether I contemplate 
his genius, his learning, or his virtues, I wish to transfer 
my own feelings to the minds of my readers; but whilst 
I distrust my own efforts, I am equally anxious to guard 
against extravagant expectations in them, and any want 
of discernment in myself. 


TEIGNMOUTH. 






M. S. 

*■*■**' 

GVLIELMI. JONES. EQVITIS. AVRATL 
QVI. C LARV M. IN. LITERIS. NOMEN. A. PATRE. ACCEPTVM, 
MAGNA. CVMVLAVIT. GLORIA. 

INGENIVM. IN. ILLO. ERAT. SCIENTIARVM. OMNIVM. CAPAX. 
DISCIPLINISQVE. OPTIMIS. DILIGENTISSIME. EXCVLTVM. 

ERAT. INDOLES. AD. VIRTVTEM. EXIMIA. 

ET. IN. IVSTITIA. LIBERTATE. RELIGIONE. VINDICANDA. 
MAXIME. PROBATA. 

QVICQUID. AVTEM. VTILE. VEL. HONESTVM. 
CONSILIIS. EXEMPLO. AVCTORITATE. VIVVS. PROMOVERAT, 
ID. OMNE. SCRIPTIS. SVIS. IMMORTALIBVS. 

ETIAM. NVNC. TVETVR. ATQVE. ORNAT. 
PRAESTANTISSIMVM. HVNC. VIRVM. 

CVM. A. PROVINCIA. BENGALA. 

VBI. IVDICIS. INTEGERRIMI. MVNVS. 

PER. DECENNIVM. OBIERAT. 

REDITVM. IN. PATRIAM. MEDITARETVR. 
INGRVENTIS. MORBI. VIS. OPPRESSIT. 

IX. KAL. IVN. A. C. MDCCLXXXXIII. JET. XLVIII. 

VT. QVIBVS. IN. AEDIBVS. 

IPSE. OLIM. SOCIVS. INCLARVISSET. 

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IN. IISDEM. MEMORIA. EIVS. POTISSIMVM. CONSERVARETVR. 

i 

HONORARIVM. HOC. MONVMENTVM. 

i* 

ANNA. MARIA. FILIA. JONATHAN. SHIPLEY. EPIS. ASAPH. 
CONIVGI. SVO. B. M. 

P. C. 

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MEMOIRS 


OF THE 

LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 

OF 

SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


THE origin of the family of Sir William Jones, 
on the maternal side, has been traced, by the industry 
of Lewis Morris, a learned British antiquary, to the 
ancient princes and chieftains of North Wales. With 
whatever delight, however, the Cambrian genealogist 
might peruse the line of his ancestry, a barren catalogue 
of uncouth names would .furnish no entertainment to 
the reader. I shall only transcribe from the list, a single 
and remarkable name in one of the collateral branches, 
that of William o Dregaian, who died in one thousand 
five hundred and eighty one, at the advanced age of one 
hundred and five years, with the note annexed to it, 
that, by three wives, he had thirty-six children, seven 
more by two concubines, and that eighty of his issue, 
during his life, were living in the parish of Tregaian, 
in Anglesey. 

But I insert, without apology for the anticipation, a 
letter addressed by Mr. Morris to the father of Sir 
William Jones, as an interesting nfemorial of an ancient 
custom which is daily falling into disuse, and a pleasing 
specimen of the mind and talents of the writer. 

c 


2 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


To William Jones , Esquire. 

sir, January 1, 1748. 

It was a custom among the Ancient Britons (and 
still retained in Anglesey) for the most knowing among 
them, in the descent of families, to send their friends of 
the same stock or family, a dydd calan Ionawr a calen- 
nig, a present of their pedigree; which was in order, I 
presume, to keep up a friendship among relations, which 
these people preserved surprisingly, and do to this day 
among the meanest of them, to the sixth and seventh 
degree. 

Some writers take notice that the Gauls also were 
noted for this affection and regard for their own people, 
though ever so distantly related. These things to be 
sure are trifles; but all other things in the world are 
trifles too. 

I take men’s bodies in the same sense as I take ve¬ 
getables. Young trees, propagated by seed or grafts 
from a good old tree, certainly owe some regard to their 
primitive stock, provided trees could act and think; and 
as, for my part, the very thought of those brave people, 
who struggled so long with a superior power for their 
liberty, inspires me with such an idea of them, that I 
almost adore their memories. Therefore, to keep up 
that old laudable custom, I herewith send you a calennig 
of the same kind as that above mentioned, which I de¬ 
sire you will accept of. 

I have reason to know, it is founded on good authori¬ 
ty ; for both my father and mother were related to your 
mother, and came from the same stock mentioned in 
the inclosed, which is the reason I am so well acquaint¬ 
ed with your mother’s descent; and on the same ac¬ 
count, till further enquiry, an utter stranger to your 
father’s family. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 8 

As you were young when you left the country, it 
cannot be supposed that you could know much of these 
things. I have had too much time there; I wish I had 
not; for I might have applied it to better use than I 
have. If this gives you any pleasure, I shall be glad of 
it; if not, commit it to the flames; and believe me to 
be with truth and sincerity, &.c. 

Lewis Morris. 

Leaving the genealogical splendor of the family of 
Sir William Jones to the contemplation of the antiqua¬ 
rian, it may be remarked, with pleasure, that its latest 
descendants have a claim to reputation, founded upon 
the honourable and unambiguous testimony of personal 
merit. His father was the celebrated philosopher and 
mathematician, who so eminently distinguished himself 
in the commencement of the last century; and a short, 
but more accurate, sketch of his life than has hitherto 
appeared, which I am enabled to give from the au¬ 
thority of his son, may be acceptable to the lovers of 
science. 

Mr. William Jones was born in the year 1680 , in 
Anglesey; his parents were yeomen, or little farmers, 
on that island; and he there received the best education 
which they were able to afford; but the industrious 
exertion of vigorous intellectual powers supplied the 
defects of inadequate instruction, and laid the foundation 
of his future fame and fortune. From his earliest years, 
Mr. Jones discovered a propensity to mathematical 
studies; and having cultivated them with assiduity, he 
began his career in life by teaching mathematics on 
board a man of war; and in this situation he attracted 
the notice, and obtained the friendship, of Lord Anson. 
In his twenty-second year, Mr. Jones published a Trea¬ 
tise on the Art of Navigation, which was received with 




4 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


great approbation. lie was present at the capture of 
Vigo, in 1702, and having joined his comrades in quest 
of pillage, he eagerly fixed upon a bookseller’s shop, as 
the object of his depredation; but finding in it no lite¬ 
rary treasures, which were the sole plunder that he co¬ 
veted, he contented himself with a pair of scissars, which 
he frequently exhibited to his friends, as a trophy of his 
military success, relating the anecdote by which he gained 
it. He returned with the fleet to England, and imme¬ 
diately afterwards established himself as a teacher of 
mathematics, in London, where, at the age of twenty- 
six, he published his Synopsis Palmariorum Mathescos; 
a decisive proof of his early and consummate proficiency 
in his favourite science. 

The private character of Mr. Jones was respectable, 
his manners were agreeable and inviting; and these 
qualities not only contributed to enlarge the circle of 
his friends, whom his established reputation for science 
had attracted, but also to secure their attachment to him. 

Amongst others who honoured him with their esteem, 
I am authorized to mention the great and virtuous Lord 
Hardwicke. Mr. Jones attended him as a companion 
on the circuit when he was chief justice; and this no¬ 
bleman, when he afterwards held the great seal, availed 
himself of the opportunity to testify his regard for the 
merit and character of his friend, by conferring upon him 
the office of secretary for the peace. Fie was also introdu¬ 
ced to the friendship of Lord Parker (afterwards presi¬ 
dent of the Royal Society), which terminated only with 
his death; and amongst other distinguished characters 
in the annals of science and literature, the names of Sir 
Isaac Newton, Halley, Mead, and Samuel Johnson, may¬ 
be enumerated as the intimate friends of Mr. Jones_ 

By Sir Isaac Newton he was treated with particular re¬ 
gard and confidence, and prepared, with his assent, the 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


5 


very elegant edition of small tracts on the higher ma¬ 
thematics, in a mode which obtained the approbation, 
and increased the esteem, of the author for him. 

After the retirement of Lord Macclesfield to Sher¬ 
borne Castle, Mr. Jones resided with his lordship as a 
member of his family, and instructed him in the sci¬ 
ences. In this situation he had the misfortune to lose the 
greatest part of his property, the accumulation of indus¬ 
try and economy, by the failure of a banker; but the 
friendship of Lord Macclesfield diminished the weight 
of the loss, by procuring for him a sinecure place of con- 
. siderable emolument. The same nobleman, who was 
then Teller of the Exchequer, made him an offer of a 
more lucrative situation; but he declined the acceptance 
of it; as it would have imposed upon him the obligation 
of more official attendance than w~as agreeable to his 
temper, or compatible with his attachment to scientific 
pursuits. 

In this retreat he became acquainted with Miss Mary 
Nix, the youngest daughter of George Nix, a cabinet¬ 
maker in London; who, although of low extraction, had 
raised himself to eminence in his profession, and, from 
the honest and pleasant frankness of his conversation, 
w as admitted to the tables of the great, and to the inti¬ 
macy of Lord Macclesfield. The acquaintance of Mr. 
Jones with Miss Nix terminated in marriage; and from 
this union sprang three children, the last of w hom, the 
late Sir William Jones, was born in London, on the eve 
of the festival of St. Michael, in the year 1746; and, a 
few days after his birth, was baptized by the Christian 
name of his father. The first son, George, died in his 
infancy; and the second child, a daughter, Mary, who 
was born in 1736, married Mr. Rainsford, a merchant, 
retired from business, in opulent circumstances. This 


6 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


lady perished miserably, during the year 1802, in con¬ 
sequence of an accident from her clothes catching fire. 

Mr. Jones survived the birth of his son William but 
three years. He was attacked with a disorder which 
the sagacity of Dr. Mead, who attended him with the 
anxiety of an affectionate friend, immediately discover¬ 
ed to be a polypus in the heart, and wholly incurable. 
This alarming secret was communicated to Mrs. Jones, 
who, from an affectionate, but mistaken, motive, could 
never be induced to discover it to her husband; and, 
upon one occasion, displayed a remarkable instance of 
self-command and address in the concealment of it. 

A well-meaning friend, who knew his dangerous si¬ 
tuation, had written to him a long letter of condolence, 
replete with philosophic axioms on the brevity of life. 
Mrs. Jones, who opened the letter, discovered the pur¬ 
port of it, at a glance; and being desired by her hus¬ 
band to read it, composed, in the moment, another lec¬ 
ture, so clearly and rapidly, that he had no suspicion of 
the deception; and this she did in a style so chearful 
and entertaining, that it greatly exhilarated him. He 
died soon after, in July, 1749, leaving behind him a 
great reputation and moderate property. 

The history of men of letters is too often a melan¬ 
choly detail of human misery, exhibiting the unavailing 
struggles of genius and learning against penury, and life 
consumed in fruitless expectation of patronage and re¬ 
ward. We contemplate, with satisfaction, the reverse 
of this picture in the history of Mr. Jones, as we trace 
him in his progress from obscurity to distinction, and 
in his participation of the friendship and beneficence of 
the first characters of the times. Nor is it less grateful 
to remark that the attachment of his professed friends did 
not expire with his life: after a proper interval, they 
visited his w T idow, and vied in their offers of service to 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


7 


her. Amongst others, to whom she was particularly 
obliged, I mention, with respect, Mr. Baker, author of 
a Treatise on the Improved Microscope, who afforded 
her important assistance, in arranging the collection of 
shells, fossils, and other curiosities, left by her deceased 
husband, and in disposing of them to the best advan¬ 
tage. The library of Mr. Jones, by a bequest in his 
will, became the property of Lord Macclesfield. 

The compilers of the Biographical Dictionary, in their 
account of Mr. Jones, have asserted, that he had com¬ 
pleted a mathematical work of the first importance, and 
had sent the first sheet of it to the press, when the indis¬ 
position, which terminated in his death, obliged him to 
discontinue the impression; that, a few days before his 
demise, he entrusted the manuscript, fairly transcibed 
by an amanuensis, to the care of Lord Macclesfield, who 
promised to publish it, as well for the honour of the au¬ 
thor, as for the benefit of the family, to whom the pro¬ 
perty of the work belonged. The earl survived his 
friend many years; but The Introduction to the Mathe¬ 
matics (the alleged title of the work) was forgotten, and, 
after his death, the manuscript was not to be found.... 
There is no evidence, in the memoranda left by Sir 
William Jones, to confirm or disprove these assertions. 
Such of the mathematical works of Mr. Jones, as have 
been published, are much admired for neatness, brevity, 
and accuracy.* 

* In Hutton’s Philosophical Dictionary, we have the following enume¬ 
ration of the works of Mr. Jones: 

A New Compendium of the whole Art of Navigation, small 8vo. 1702. 

Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos; or a new Introduction to the Ma¬ 
thematics, containing the Principles of Arithmetic and Geometry, de¬ 
monstrated in a short and easy Method, 8vo. 1706. 

In the Philosophical Transactions: 

A Compendious Disposition of Equations for exhibiting the Relations 
«f Geometrical Lines. 


8 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


The care of the education of William now devolved 
upon his mother, who, in many respects, was eminently 
qualified for the task. Her character, as delineated by 
her husband, with somewhat of mathematical precision, 


A Tract of Logarithms. 

Account of a Person killed by Lightning, in Tottenham-court Chapel, 
and its Effects on the Building. 

Properties of Conic Sections, deduced by a compendious Method. 

He was also the editor of some mathematical works of Sir Isaac 
Newton, under the title of Analysis, per Quantitatem Series, Fiuxiones, 
ac Differentias: cum Enumeratione Linearum tertii ordinis. 

In the library of Trinity-college, Cambridge, some letters from Mr. 
Jones to Mr. Cotes, who was at that time engaged in giving lectures at 
the college, are preserved. They do not contain any material infor¬ 
mation ; but having, with the permission of the college, obtained copies 
of them, by the polite assistance of Mr. Brown, I annex them to this 
note, together with one from Mr. Cotes to Mr. Jones. 

Letter from Mr. Jones to Mr. Cotes. 

sir, London , September , 177/z, 1711. 

The paper concerning Sir Isaac Newton’s method of interpolation, 
which you have been pleased to send me, being done so very neat, that it 
will be an injury to the curious in these things to be kept any longer without 
it; therefore must desire that you would grant me leave to publish it in 
the Philosophical Transactions. You may be assured that 1 do not move 
this to you without Sir Isaac’s approbation, who I find is no less willing 
to have it done. The new edition of the Principia is what we wait for, 
with great impatience ; though, at the same time, I believe the book 
will be far more valuable than if it had been done in a hurry, since I 
find the interruptions are necessary, and such as will render it com¬ 
plete. We have nothing considerable in hand here at present, only 
M. Demoire’s Treatise on Chances, which makes a whole transac¬ 
tion. He is very fond of it, and we expect it well done. Mr. Raphson 
has printed off four or five sheets of his History of Fluxions, but being 
shewed Sir Isaac Newton’s (who it seems would rather have them 
write against him, than have a piece done in that manner in his favor) 
he got a stop put to it, for some time at least. Dr. Halley has almost 
finished the printing of the Greenwich Observations, which will be a 
work of good use, especially as it is now freed from the 'trifles it was 
loaded with. Sir, I have one thing which I would trouble you with fur¬ 
ther, and that is, to let me know what lectures, or other papers of Sir 
Isaac Newton’s, remain in your University unpublished. This may be 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 9 

is this: “ that she was virtuous without blemish, gener- 
“ ous without extravagance, frugal but not niggard, 
“ cheerful but not giddy, close but not sullen, ingenu- 
“ ous but not conceited, of spirit but not passionate, of 


done at your leisure. It would be a great satisfaction to me, if I could be 
any way serviceable to you here at London ; and should readily embrace 
any opportunity to approve and express myself, what I am exceedingly 
obliged to be, 

Your most affectionate friend, 

And faithful servant, 

William Jones, 

From the same to the same. 

sir? London , Oct . 25, 1711. 

The favour of your account of Sir Isaac’s papers, left at Cambridge, 
I return you my hearty thanks for; and, as you have some further con-* 
siderations about the Doctrine of Differences, I am assured that they 
cannot but be valuable ; and if a few instances of the application were 
given, perhaps it wmuld not be amiss. Having tarried some time for a 
convenient opportunity, I was obliged to send you at last Moreton’s 
book by the carrier, though it will only satisfy you that Dr. Gregory had 
but a very slender notion of the design, extent, and use of lib. 3d of the 
Frincifiia . I hope it will not be long before you find leisure to send me 
what you have further done on this curious subject. No excuse must be 
made against the publishing of them, since, with respect to reputation, 
I dare say it will be no way to your disadvantage. I have nothing of 
news to send you, only the Germans and French have in a violent man¬ 
ner attacked the philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton, and seem resolved to 
stand by Des Cartes. Mr. Keil, as a person concerned, has undertaken 
to defend and answer some things, as Dr. Friend and Dr. Mead do, in 
their way, the rest. I would have sent you the whole controversy, was 
I not sure that you know, those only are most capable of objecting against 
his writings, that least understand them. However, in a little time? 
you will see some of them in the Philosophical Transactions. 

I am, Sir, 

Very much your friend and servant, 

William Jones. 

Answer to the foregoing , by Mr. Cotes . 

dear sir, 

I have received Moreton’s book. I thank you for the favour you 
did me in sending it. I have looked over what relates to his way of in¬ 
terpolation ; but I find no cause from thence to make any alteration...* 

© 


10 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


“ her company cautious, in her friendship trusty, to her 
“ parents dutiful, and to her husband ever faithful, lov- 
u ing, and obedient.” She had, by nature, a strong un- 

The controversy, concerning Sir Isaac’s philosophy, is a piece of news 
that I had not heard of. I think that philosophy needs no defence, espe¬ 
cially when attacked by Cartesians. One Mr. Green, a fellow of Clare- 
Hall, seems to have nearly the same design with those German and 
French objectants, whom you mention. His book is now in our press, 
and almost finished, I am told. He will add an Appendix, in which he 
undertakes also to square the circle. I need not recommend his per¬ 
formance any further to you. 

I am, Sir, your obliged friend, 

And humble servant, 

R. C. 

From Mr . Jones to Mr . Cotes • 

dear sir, London , Jan . 11, 1711-12. 

I have sent you here enclosed the copy of a letter, that I found 
among Mr. Collin’s papers, from Sir Isaac Newton to one Mr. Smith. 
The contents thereof seem in a great measure to have relation to what 
you are about, as being the application of the Doctrine of Differences to 
the making of tables ; and for that reason I thought it might be of use 
to you, so far as to see what has been done already. I shewed this to 
Sir Isaac: he remembers that he applied it to all sorts of tables. I 
have more papers of Mr. Mercator’s, and others, upon this subject • 
though I think none so material to your purpose as this. I should be 
very glad to see what you have done upon this subject all published; 
and I must confess, that unless you design a large volume, it were much 
better to put them into the Philosophical Transactions, for that would 
sufficiently preserve them from being lost, which is the common fate of 
small single tracts, and, at the same time, to save the trouble and ex¬ 
pense of printing them, since the subject is too curious to expect any 
profit from it; and besides now, as the Royal Society having done them¬ 
selves the honour of choosing you a member, something from you can¬ 
not but be acceptable to them. Sir Isaac himself expects these things, 
of you, that I formerly mentioned to him as your promise. 

I am, Sir, your much obliged friend, and humble servant, 

William Jones. 

From Mr . Jones to Mr . Cotes . 

Sir, London , Feb . 6, 1712-13. 

The Royal Society having ordered one of their books for you, and 
another for Mr. Saunderson, also one for Trinity-College library, and 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


11 


derstanding, which was improved by his conversation 
and instruction. Under his tuition she became a consi¬ 
derable proficient in Algebra, and, with a view to qualify 
herself for the office of preceptor to her sister’s son, who 

one for the University library, I would not lose the opportunity of paying 
you my respects, by sending them. I need not tell you the occasion and 
-design of that collection. You will see readily, that it affords such light 
concerning what it relates to, as could not easily have been discovered 
any other way ; it also shews, that your great predecessor, whose illus¬ 
trious example I don’t doubt but you follow, never employed his time 
about things ordinary. I have no mathematical intelligence to send you. 
Mr. Keil thinks he has discovered a very easy and practical solution of 
the Keplerean problem. If Moreton’s book is of no use to you, please to 
send it to me, though I fear it will yield me but small assistance, having 
occasion for variety of modern solstitial meridian altitudes of the Sun, 
such as may be depended upon. Helvetius, Flamstead, and the French 
observations, seem defective. I should be glad to be informed where I 
'can be supplied best. I am extremely pleased to find that Sir Isaac’s 
book is so near being finished; and it is not less agreeable to me to hear, 
that your own book is in such forwardness. You are much in the right 
of it to print your lectures, and other papers, in a book by itself: it is 
better than to have them lie up and down among other things. What I 
formerly proposed, as to the putting of things in the Philosophical 
Transactions, is only fit for a sheet or two, but not exceeding that. I 
very much long to see those valuable pieces, and hope you will let me 
know in what time I may expect them.—Do me the justice to believe 
that I am, with all sincerity, 

Your most humble servant, 

William Jones. 


From the same to the same, 

-S IR) * London, Afiril 29,1713. 

Ever since I received your very kind letter, and Moreton’s book, I 
waited for an opportunity of sending you some old manuscripts I had by 
me, and at last am obliged to venture them by the carrier. They relate, 
in some measure, to the method of Differences : the folio one, I find, 
was written by one Nath. Torperly, a Shropshire man, who, when 
young, was amanuensis to Vieta, but afterwards writ against him. Fie 
was cotemporary with Briggs. The book, I think, can be of no other 
use to you, than in what relates to the history of that method, and in 
having the satisfaction of seeing what has been formerly done on that 
subject. I am mightily pleased to see the end of the Princijiia, and 
return you many thanks for the nstructive index, that you have taken 


12 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

was destined to a maritime profession, made herself 
perfect in Trigonometry and the Theory of Navigation, 
Mrs. Jones, after the death of her husband, was urgently 
and repeatedly solicited, by the Countess of Maccles¬ 
field, to remain at Sherborne Castle; but having formed 
a plan for the education of her son, with an unalterable 
determination to pursue it, and being apprehensive that 
her residence at Sherborne might interfere with the 
execution of it, she declined accepting the friendly 
invitation of the countess, who never ceased to retain 
the most affectionate regard for her. 


the pains to add, and hope it will not be long before we shall see the 
beginning of that noble book. I shall be in some pain till I hear that 
you have received my old manuscript, it being a favourite purely on 
account of some extravagancies in it; but I shall think it safe in your 
hands. 

I am, Sir, 

Your affectionate friend, and humble servant, 

William Jones. 


From the same to the same . 

Dear Sir, London, July 11,1713. 

It is impossible to represent to you, with what pleasure I received 
your inestimable present cf the Princifiia , and am much concerned to 
find myself so deeply charged with obligations to you, and such I fear as 
all my future endeavours will never be able to requite. This edition 
is indeed exceedingly beautiful, and interspersed with great variety 
of admirable discoveries so very natural to its great author; but it is 
more so from the additional advantage of your excellent preface, which 
I wish much to get published in some of the foreign journals; and since a 
better account of this book cannot be given, I suppose it will not be 
difficult to get jt done. Now, this great task being done, I hope you will 
think of publishing your papers, and not let such valuable pieces lie by. 
As to what you mentioned in your last, concerning my old manuscripts, 
(though for my part I know nothing worth your notice publickly in them) 
if you do find any, the end of my sending them is the better answered; 
and you know that you may do as you please. 

I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient Servant, 

William Jones. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 13 

In the plan adopted by Mrs. Jones for the instruction 
Of her son, she proposed to reject the severity of dis¬ 
cipline, and to lead his mind insensibly to knowledge 
and exertion, by exciting his curiosity, and directing it 
to useful objects. To his incessant importunities for 
information on casual topics of conversation, which she 
watchfully stimulated, she constantly replied, read, and 
you will know ; a maxim, to the observance of which he 
always acknowledged himself indebted for his future 
attainments. By this method, his desire to learn be¬ 
came as eager as her wish to teach; and such was her 
talent of instruction, and his facility of retaining it, that 
in his fourth year he was able to read, distinctly and 
rapidly, any English book. She particularly attended 
at the same time to the cultivation of his memory, by 
making him learn and repeat some of the popular 
speeches in Shakespeare, and the best of Gay’s Fables. 

If, from the subsequent eminence of Sir William 
Jones, any general conclusion should be eagerly drawn 
in favour of early tuition, we must not forget to advert 
to the uncommon talents both of the pupil and the 
teacher. 

In common cases, premature instruction has often 
been found to retard, rather than accelerate, the pro¬ 
gress of the intellectual faculties; and the success of it 
so much depends upon the judgment of the tutor and 
the capacity of the scholar, upon the skill of the one 
as well as upon the disposition and powers of the other, 
that it is impossible to prescribe a general rule, when 
instruction ought to begin, or a general mode, by which 
it should be conveyed; the determination, in both cases, 
must be left to the discretion of parents, who ought to 
be the most competent to decide. 

In this year of his life, Jones providentially escaped 
from two accidents ; one of which had nearly proved 


14 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


fatal to his sight, the other to his life. Being left alone 
in a room, in attempting to scrape some soot from the 
chimney, he fell into the fire, and his clothes were in¬ 
stantly in flames: his cries brought the servants to his 
assistance, and he was preserved with some difficulty; 
but his face, neck, and arms, were much burnt. . A 
short time afterwards, when his attendants were putting 
on his clothes, which were imprudently fastened with 
hooks, he struggled, either in play, or in some childish 
pet, and a hook was fixed in his right eye. By due 
care, under the directions of Dr. Mead, whose friend¬ 
ship with his family continued unabated.after his father’s 
death, the wound was healed; but the eye was so much 
weakened, that the sight of it ever remained imperfect. 

His propensity to reading, which had begun to dis¬ 
play itself, was for a time checked by these accidents; 
but the habit was acquired, and, after his recovery, he 
indulged it without restraint, by perusing eagerly any 
books that came in his way, and with an attention pro¬ 
portioned to his ability to comprehend them. In his 
fifth year, as he was one morning turning over the leaves 
of a bible in his mother’s closet, his attention was for¬ 
cibly arrested by the sublime description of the angel, 
in the tenth chapter of the Apocalypse; and the impres¬ 
sion which his imagination received from it was never 
effaced. At a period of mature judgment he considered 
the passage as equal in sublimity to any in the inspired 
writers, and far superior to any that could be produced 
from mere human compositions; and he was fond of 
retracing and mentioning the rapture which he felt, 
when he first read it. In his sixth year, by the assist¬ 
ance of a friend, he was initiated in the rudiments of 
the Latin grammar, and he committed some passages of 
it to memory; but the dull elements of a new language 
having nothing to captivate his childish attention, he 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


15 


made little progress in it; nor was he encouraged to 
perseverance by his mother, who, intending him for a 
public education, was unwilling to perplex his mind 
v with the study of a dead language, before he had ac¬ 
quired a competent knowledge of his native tongue. 

At Michaelmas, 1753, in the close of his seventh 
year, he was placed at Harrow School, of which the 
worthy and amiable Dr. Thackeray was then head¬ 
master. The amusements and occupations of a school¬ 
boy are of little importance to the public; yet it cannot 
be uninteresting or uninstructive to trace the progress 
of a youth of genius and abilities, from his earliest 
efforts to that proficiency in universal literature which 
he afterwards attained. During the two first years of 
his residence at Harrow, he was rather remarked for 
diligence and application, than for the superiority of his 
talents, or the extent of his acquisitions; and his atten¬ 
tion was almost equally divided between his books and 
a little garden, the cultivation and embellishment of 
which occupied all his leisure hours. His faculties, 
however, necessarily gained strength by exercise; and, 
during his school vacations, the sedulity of a fond parent 
was, without intermission, exerted to improve his know¬ 
ledge of his own language. She also taught him the 
rudiments of drawing, in which she excelled. 

In his ninth year, he had the misfortune to break his 
thigh-bone, in a scramble with his school-fellows ; and 
thig accident detained him from school twelve months. 
After his relief from pain, however, the period of his 
confinement was not suffered to pass in indolence; his 
mother was his constant companion, and amused him 
daily with the perusal of such English books as she 
deemed adapted to his taste and capacity. The juve¬ 
nile poems of Pope, and Dryden’s Translation of the 
dEneid, afforded him incessant delight, and excited his. 


16 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


poetical talents, which displayed themselves in the com¬ 
position of verses in imitation of his favourite authors* 
But his progress in classical learning, during this in¬ 
terval, was altogether suspended; for although he might 
have availed himself of the proffered instruction of a 
friend, in whose house he resided, to acquire the rudi¬ 
ments of Latin, he was then so unable to comprehend 
its utility, and had so little relish for it, that he was left 
unrestrained to pursue his juvenile occupations and 
amusements; and the little which he had gained in his 
two first years was nearly lost in the third. 

On his return to school he was, however, placed in 
the same class which he would have attained, if the pro¬ 
gress of his studies had not been interrupted. He was, 
of course, far behind his fellow-labourers of the same 
standing, who erroneously ascribed his insufficiency to 
laziness or dulness; while the .master, who had raised 
him to a situation above his powers, required exertions 
of which he was incapable; and corporal punishment 
and degradation were applied, for the non-performance 
of tasks which he had never been instructed to furnish. 
But, in truth, he far excelled his school-fellows in 
general, both in diligence and quickness of apprehen¬ 
sion; nor was he of a temper to submit to imputations, 
which he knew to be unmerited. Punishment failed to 
produce the intended effect; but his emulation was 
roused. He devoted himself incessantly to the perusal 
of various elementary treatises, which had never been 
explained nor even recommended to him; and having 
thus acquired principles, he applied them with such 
skill and success, that, in a few months, he not only 
recovered the station from which he had been degraded, 
but was at the head of his class: his compositions were 
correct, his analysis accurate, and he uniformly gained 
every prize offered for the best exercise. He volun- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 17 

tarily extended his studies beyond the prescribed limits, 
and, by solitary labour, having acquired a competent 
knowledge of the rules of prosody, he composed verses 
in imitation of Ovid; a task which had never been re¬ 
quired from any of the students in the lower school at 
Harrow. J' x. J 

The behaviour of the master to Jones made an im- 
pression on his mind, which he ever remembered with 
abhorrence. Little doubt can be entertained that he 
might have been stimulated to equal exertions, if 
encouragement had been substituted for severity, and 
instruction for disgrace. The accumulation of punish¬ 
ment, for his inability to soar before he had been taught 
to fly, (I use his own expression) might have rendered 
the feelings callous; and a sense of the injustice attend¬ 
ing the infliction of it was calculated to destroy the 
respect due to magisterial authority, and its influence 
over the scholar. It is a material and, perhaps, un¬ 
avoidable defect, in the system of education at public 
schools, that the necessity of regulating instruction, by 
general rules, must often preclude that attention to the 
tempers and capacities of individuals, by which their 
attainments might be essentially piomoted. 

In his twelfth year, Jones was moved into the upper 
school. Of the retentive powers of his memory, at this 
period, the following anecdote is a remarkable instance. 
His school-fellows proposed to amuse themselves with 
the representation of a play; and, at his recommendation, 
they fixed upon the Tempest. As it was not readily to 
be procured, he wrote it for them so correctly, from 
memory, that they acted it with great satisfaction to 
themselves, and with considerable entertainment to the 
spectators. He performed the character of Prospero. 

His diligence increased with his advancement in the 
school: he now entered upon the study of the Greek 


13 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


tongue; the characters of which he had already learned 
for his amusement. IJis genius and assiduity were also 
displayed in various compositions, not required by the 
discipline of the school. He translated into English 
verse several of the epistles of Ovid, all the pastorals of 
Virgil, and composed a dramatic piece on the story ol 
Meleager, which he denominated a tragedy; and it was 
acted, during the vacation, by some of his school¬ 
fellows, with whom he was most intimate. In his own 
play he performed the part of the hero. 

A copy of this little composition, inaccurately trans¬ 
cribed by a relation, has been preserved; and, to gratify 
that curiosity which the mention of it may have excited, 
I select from it the following lines: 

Atalanta (speaks.) 

Still Discord raves, Belloha fiercely storms, 

Mars calls, and Caledonians exclaim. 

Althaea, fraught with ire, forgets her son, 

And meditates fierce vengeance in her heart. 

At Dian’s sacred shrine a billet lies, 

On which depends the life of Meleager. 

This stern Althsea spied, then fury fired 
Her furious mind: she knew the fate’s decree— 

Thrice did she rave, and thrice repress’d her hand ; 

At length she threw the billet on the fire, 

Which gently gather’d round its'impious prey ; 

And now in absent flames the hero burns. 

Wildly he stares ; his glaring eyeballs sink 
Beneath their sockets, and omit their light. 

His shiver’d hair hangs dangling o’er his face ; 

He rends his silken vest, and wrings his hands, 

And groans, possess’d with agonizing pain. 

These juvenile efforts contributed to establish the 
influence and reputation of Jones in the school; and 
the success, with which his studies had latterly been 
pursued, left him no reason to regret the disadvantages 
under which he had at first laboured. His improvement 


10 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

in the knowledge of prosody was truly extraordinary; 
he soon acquired a proficiency in all the varieties of 
Roman metre; so that he was able to scan the trochiac 
and iambic verses of Terence, before his companions 
even suspected that they were any thing but mere 
prose. He also learned to taste the elegance of that 
writer, and was frequently heard to repeat, with parti¬ 
cular satisfaction, the rule in the Andria: 

f Eacile oranes perferre et pati 

^ Nunquam prseponens se aliis. 

Such was the extent of his attainments, and such his 
facility^ of composition, that for two years he wrote the 
exercises of many boys in the two superior classes, who 
often obtained credit for performances to which they 
had no title, whilst the students in the same class with 
himself were happy to become his pupils. During the 
holidays his studies were- varied, but not relaxed; in 
these intervals he learned the rudiments of French and 
arithmetic, and was particularly gratified with an invita¬ 
tion to attend the meetings of learned and ingenious men, 
at the house of that amiable philosopher, Mr. Baker, and 
his friend, Mr. Pond. As an introduction to the know¬ 
ledge of the subjects discussed in this literary society, 
by .the particular recommendation of his mother, he 
read the Spectacle de la Nature: he acknowledged, 
however, that he was more entertained with the Arabian 
Tales, and Shakespeare, whose poems and plays he 
repeatedly perused with increased delight. 

In the usual recreations of his school-fellows at 
Harrow, Jones was rarely a partaker; and the hours 
which they allotted to amusement, he generally devoted 
to improvement. The following anecdote strongly 
indicates the turn of his mind, and the impression 
made by his studies. Fie invented a political play, in 


20 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


which Dr. William Bennett,* bishop of Cloyne, and 
the celebrated Dr. Parr, were his principal associates. 
They divided the fields in the neighbourhood of Harrow, 
according to a map of Greece, into states and king¬ 
doms ; each fixed upon one as his dominion, and 
assumed an ancient name. Some of their school-fellows 
consented to be styled barbarians, who were to invade 
their territories and attack their hillocks, which were 
denominated fortresses. The chiefs vigorously defended 
their respective domains, against the incursions of the 
enemy; and, in these imitative wars, the young states¬ 
men held councils, made vehement harangues, and 
composed memorials, all doubtless very boyish, but 
calculated to fill their minds with ideas of legislation 
and civil government. In these unusual amusements, 
Jones was ever the leader; and he might justly have 
appropriated to himself the words of Catullus: 

Ego gymnasii flos, ego decus olei. 

Dr. Thackeray retired from the superintendence 
of the school at Harrow, when his pupil had attained 
his fifteenth year. It was a singular trait in the character 
of this good man and respectable tutor, that he never 

* The bishop of Cloyne, in a letter to the dean of St. Asaph, dated 
November 1795, mentions Sir William Jones, in terms of respect and 
affection : “ I knew him (he writes) from the early age of eight or nine, 
u and he was always an uncommon boy. Great abilities, great parti- 
“ cularity of thinking, fondness for writing verses and plays of various 
“ kinds, and a degree of integrity and manly courage, of which I 
u remember many instances, distinguished him even at that period. I 
“ loved him and revered him, and though one or two years older than he 
“ was, was always instructed by him from my earliest age. 

“ In a word, I can only say of this amiable and wonderful man, that 
a he had more virtues, and less faults, than I ever yet saw in any human 
“ being ; and that the goodness of his head, admirable as it was, was 

exceeded by that of his heart. I have never ceased to admire him 
“ from the moment I first saw him ; and my esteem for his great 
“ qualities, and regret for his loss, will only end with my life.” 


21 


SIR WILLIM JONES. 


V 


applauded the best compositions of his scholars, from a 
notion, which he had adopted, that praise only tended 
to make them vain or idle. But the opinion which he 
gave of Jones, in private, was, that he was a boy of so 
j active a mind, that if he were left naked and friendless on 
| Salisbury plain, he would nevertheless find the road to 
| fame and riches. 


Dr. Thackeray was succeeded by Dr. Sumner ; and, 
for his information of the course of study pursued at Har¬ 
row, a plan of the lectures and exercises, in the upper 
school, was accurately delineated by Jones, at the sug¬ 
gestion of the principal assistant, who presented it to 
the new master, with many encomiums on the talents 
of his favourite scholar. He annexed to it a collection 
of his compositions, including his translation of the pas¬ 
torals of Virgil. Dr. Sumner quickly distinguished 
him; and of the two complete years which he passed 
under that excellent instructor, it is sufficient to say, that 
^ he employed them in reading and imitating the best an¬ 
cient authors. Nor did he confine himself merely to 
the compositions of Greece and Rome; he learned the 
Arabic characters, and studied the Hebrew language 
sufficiently to enable him to read some of the original 
Psalms. His ardour for knowledge was so unlimited, that 
he frequently devoted whole nights to study, taking 
coffee or tea as an antidote to drowsiness; and his im¬ 
provement, by these extraordinary exertions, was so 
rapid, that he soon became the prime favourite of his 
master, who, with an excusable partiality, was heard to 
declare, that Jones knew more Greek than himself, and 
was a greater proficient in the idiom of that language. 
Nor was he less a favourite with his fellow-students 
than with his master; he acquired popularity with them, 
by the frequent holidays that rewarded the excellence 
of his compositions. His reputation, at the same time, 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


22 

was so extensive, that he was often flattered by the 
enquiries of strangers* under the. title of the Great 
Scholar. 

Of his juvenile compositions, in prose and verse, the 
early fruits of rare talents and unbounded industry, some 
have been printed in the fragment of a work which he 
began at school, and entitled Limon,* in imitation of 
Cicero. During the last months of his residence at 
Harrow, Dr. Sumner not only dispensed with his at¬ 
tendance at school, but was obliged to interdict his 
application, in consequence of a weakness of sight con¬ 
tracted by it. His compositions were not, however, 
discontinued ; and he obtained the assistance of the 
younger students to write them from his dictation. He 
employed the intervals of suspended duty, which he was 
reluctantly compelled to admit, in learning chess, by 
practising the games of Philidor. 

During the vacations, his application was directed to 
improve his knowledge of French and arithmetic, to 
which he also added the study of the Italian. Books he 
had always at command; for his mother, who contem¬ 
plated with delight the progress of her son, with a wise 
liberality allowed him unlimited credit on her purse. 
But of this indulgence, as he knew that her finances were 
restricted, he availed himself no further than to pur¬ 
chase such books as were essential to his improvement. 

I shall here transcribe, without alteration or omission, 
a letter which the young student, at the age of four¬ 
teen, wrote to his sister, to console her for the death 
of a friend. 

DEAR SISTER, 

When I received your letter, I was very concerned 
to hear the death of your friend Mr. Reynolds, which I 


Works of Sir William Jones, vol. ii. page 627. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 23 i 

consider as a piece of affliction common to us both.... 
For although my knowledge of his name or character 
is of no long date, and though I never had any personal 
acquaintance with him, yet (as you observe) we ought 
to regret the loss of every honourable man; and, if I 
had the pleasure of your conversation, I would certainly 
give you any consolatory advice that lay in my power, 
and make it my business to convince you what a real 
share I take in your chagrin. And yet, to reason phi¬ 
losophically, I cannot help thinking any grief upon a 
person’s death very superfluous, and inconsistent with 
sense; for what is the cause of our sorrow? Is it be¬ 
cause we hate the person deceased ? that were to imply 
strange contradiction, to express our joy by the com¬ 
mon signs of sorrow. If, on the other hand, we grieve 
for one who was dear to us, I should reply that we 
should, on the contrary, rejoice at his having left a state 
so perilous and uncertain as life is. The common strain 

is_“ Tis pity so virtuous a man should die”....but I 

assert the contrary; and when I hear the death of a 
person of merit, I cannot help reflecting, how happy 
must he be who now takes the reward of his excel¬ 
lencies, without the possibility of falling away from 
them, and losing the virtue which he professed, on 
whose character death has fixed a kind of seal, and 
placed him out of the reach of vice and infamy! for 
death only closes a man’s reputation, and determines it 
as either good or bad. On the contrary, in life nothing 
is certain; whilst any one is liable to alteration, we 
may possibly be forced to retract our esteem for him, 
and some time or other he may appear to us, as under 
a different light than what he does at present; for the 
life of no man can be pronounced either happy or 
miserable, virtuous or abandoned, before the conclu¬ 
sion of it. It was upon this reflection, that Solon, being 


24 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


asked by Croesus, a monarch of immense riches, who 
was the happiest man? answered, after your death I 
shall be able to determine. Besides, though a man 
should pursue a constant and determinate course of vir¬ 
tue, though he were to keep regular symmetry and uni¬ 
formity in his actions, and preserve the beauty of his 
reputation to the last, yet (while he lives) his very vir¬ 
tue may incur some evil imputation, and provoke a 
thousand murmurs of detraction; for, believe me, my 
dear sister, there is no instance of any virtue, or social 
excellence, which has not excited the envy of innume¬ 
rable assailants, whose acrimony is raised barely by 
seeing others pleased, and by hearing commendation 
which another enjoys. It is not easy, in this life, for 
any man to escape censure: and infamy requires very 
little labour to assist its circulation. But there is a 
kind of sanction in the characters of the dead, which 
gives due force and reward4heir merits, and defends 
them from the suggestions of calumny. But to return 
to the point; what reason is there to disturb yourself 
on this melancholy occasion? do but reflect that thou¬ 
sands die every moment of time; that even while we 
speak, some unhappy wretch or other is either pining 
with hunger, or pinched with poverty, sometimes giv¬ 
ing up his life to the point of the sword, torn with con¬ 
vulsive agonies, and undergoing many miseries which 
it were superfluous to mention. We should, therefore, 
compare our afflictions with those who are more miser¬ 
able, and not with those who are more happy. I am 
ashamed to add more, lest I should seem to mistrust 
your prudence; but next week, when I understand your 
mind is more composed, I shall write you word how all 
things go here. I designed to write you this letter in 
French; but I thought I could express my thoughts 
with more energy in my own language. 



SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


25 


I come now, after a long interval, to mention some 
more private circumstances. Pray give my duty to 
my Mamma, and thank her for my shirts. They fit, 
in my opinion, very well; though Biddy says they are 
too little in the arms. You may expect a letter from 
me every day in the week, till I come home; for Mrs. 
Biscoe has desired it, and has given me some franks. 
When you see her, you may tell her that her little boy 
sends his duty to her, and Mr. Biscoe his love to his 
sister, and desires to be remembered to Miss Cleeve; 
he also sends his compliments to my mamma and you. 
Upon my word, I never thought our bleak air would 
have so good an effect upon him. His complexion is 
now ruddy, which before was sallow and pale, and he is 
indeed much grown : but I now speak of trifles, I mean 
in comparison of his learning; and indeed he takes that 
with wonderful acuteness; besides, his excessive high 
spirits increase mine, and give me comfort, since, after 
4. Parnell’s departure, he is almost the only company I 
keep. As for news, the only article I know is, that 
Mrs. Par is dead and buried. Mr. and Mrs. Sumner 
are well: the latter thanks you for bringing the letter 
from your old acquaintance, and the former has made 
me an elegant present. I am now very much taken up 
with study; am to speak Antony’s speech in Shake- 
speare’s Julius Caesar (which play I will read to you 
when I come to town), and am this week to make a 
declamation. I add no more than the sincere well- 
wishes of your faithful friend, 

And affectionate brother, 

William Jones. 



If I am not deceived by my partiality for the memory 
of Sir William Jones, this letter will be perused with 
interest by the public. The topics selected for th$ 


26 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

consolation of his sister are not indeed of the most novel 
nature, nor the best adapted to afford it; and we may 
smile at the gravity of the young moralist, contrasted 
with the familiarity of the circumstances detailed in the 
latter part of the epistle, which I found no disposition 
to reject: but the letter, as it stands, will furnish no 
contemptible proof of his talents and fraternal affection, 
and may serve as a standard of comparison to parents,, 
for estimating the abilities of their own children. 

The period of tuition under Dr. Sumner passed 
rapidly, to the mutual satisfaction of the master and 
scholar, until Jones had reached his seventeenth year; 
when it was determined to remove him to one of the 
Universities. This determination was not adopted 
without much hesitation; for it had been strongly re¬ 
commended to his mother, by sergeant Prime, and 
other lawyers, to place him, at the age of sixteen, in 
the office of some eminent special pleader: and they 
supported their recommendation by an observation, 
equally flattering to him and tempting to his mother, 
that his talents, united with such indefatigable industry, 
must ensure the most brilliant success, and conse¬ 
quently the acquisition of wealth and reputation. It is 
a singular proof of his curiosity to explore unusual 
tracks of learning, that, at this early age, he had perused 
the abridgment of Coke’s Institutes, by Ireland, with 
so much attention, that he frequently amused the legal 
friends of his mother, by reasoning with them on old 
cases, which were supposed to be confined to the learned 
in the profession. The law, however, at that time, had 
little attraction for him; and he felt no inclination to 
renounce his Demosthenes and Cicero for the pleadings 
in Westminster-Hall. His disgust to the study of the 
law had also been particularly excited by the perusal 
of some old and inaccurate abridgment of law cases in 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. Z7 

barbarous Latin. This disinclination on his part, the 
solicitude of Dr. Sumner, that he should devote some 
years to the completion of his studies at the university, 
and the objections of his mother, founded on reasons 
of economy, to a profession which could not be pursued 
without considerable expense, fixed her decision against 
the advice of her legal friends. The choice of an uni¬ 
versity was also the occasion of some discussion. Cam¬ 
bridge was recommended by Dr. Sumner, who had 
received his education there; but Dr. Glasse, who had 
private pupils at Harrow, and had always distinguished 
Jones by the kindest attention, recommended Oxford. 
His choice was adopted by Mrs. Jones, who, in com¬ 
pliance with the wishes of her son, had determined to 
reside at the university with him, and greatly preferred 
the situation of Oxford. 

In the spring of 1764 he went to the university, 
for the purpose of being matriculated and entered at 
college:* but he returned to Harrow for a few months, 
that he might finish a course of lectures, which he had 
just begun, and in which he had been highly interested 
by the learning, eloquence, taste, and sagacity, of his 
excellent instructor. They separated soon after, with 
mutual regret; and in the following term he fixed him¬ 
self at Oxford. 

The name of Jones was long remembered at Harrow, 
with the respect due to his superior talents and un¬ 
rivalled erudition ; and he was frequently quoted by 
Dr. Sumner, as the ornament of his school, and as an 
example for imitation. He had not only distinguished 
himself by the extent of his classical attainments, and 


* The following is the form of his admission into University College, 
copied from his own writing:....Ego Gulielmus Jones, filius unicus 
Gulielmi Jones, Armigeri, de civitate Lond. lubens subscribe* sub tuta- 
mine Magistri Betts, etMagistri Coulson, annos natus septemdecim. 



MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


28 

his poetical compositions, but by the eloquence of his 
declamations, and the masterly manner in which they 
were delivered. In the varied talents, which constitute 
an orator, Dr. Sumner himself excelled: and his pupil 
had equally benefited by his example and instruction. 
In the behaviour of Jones towards his school-fellows, 
he never exhibited that tyranny, which, in the larger 
seminaries of learning, is sometimes practised by the 
senior, over the younger students. His disposition 
equally revolted at the exercise or sufferance of oppres¬ 
sion; and he early exhibited a mind strongly impressed 
with those moral distinctions, which he ever retained. 
Of the friendships which he contracted at school, many 
were afterwards cultivated with reciprocal affection ; 
and, among the friends of his early years, some still 
survive, who remember his virtues with delight, and 
deplore his loss. 

His friend Parnell, whose departure from school he 
laments in the letter to his sister, was the late Sir 
John Parnell, who held the office of chancellor of the 
Exchequer, in Ireland. His testimony of the merits, 
capacity, and proficiency of his friend and fellow- 
student^ at Harrow, extracted from a memorandum, 
which he gave to Lady Jones, will confirm my own 
account of him. 44 The early period of life is not 
44 usually marked by extraordinary anecdote: but small 
44 circumstances become interesting, when we can 
44 trace in them the first principles of virtue, and the 
44 first symptoms of those talents which afterwards so 
44 eminently distinguished the character of Sir William 
44 Jones. He gave very early proofs of his possessing 
44 very extraordinary abilities. His industry was very 
44 great, and his love ofliterature was the result of dis- 
44 positioii, and not of submission to control. He 
44 exceed, principally, in his knowledge of the Greek 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


29 


“ language. His compositions were distinguished by 
“ his precise application of every word, agreeable to 
“ the most strict classical authority. He imitated the 
“ choruses of Sophocles so successfully that his writ- 
“ ings seemed to be original Greek compositions; and 
“ he was attentive even in writing the Greek characters 
“ with great correctness. His time being employed in 
“ study, prevented his joining in those plays and amuse- 
“ ments which occupied the time of his other school¬ 
fellows; but it induced no other singularity in his 
“ manners; they were mild, conciliating, and chearful. 
“ When I first knew him, about the year 1761, he 
“ amused himself with the study of botany, and in 
“ collecting fossils. In general, the same pursuits which 
“ gave employment to his mature understanding, were 
“ the first objects of his youthful attention. The same 
“ disposition formed the most distinguished features at 
“ an early and at a late period of his life. A decision of 
“ mind, and a strict attachment to virtue, an enthusiastic 
“ love of liberty, an uniform spirit of philanthropy, were 
“ the characteristics of his youth, and of his manhood: 
“ he did no act, he used no expression, which did not 
“justify these assertions.” 

A collection of English poems, composed by Mr. 
Jones, at Harrow, was presented by him to his friend 
Parnell, in 1763. The first and longest of the collection, 
containing more than three hundred and thirty lines, is 
entitled Prolusions, and is a critique on the various 
styles of pastoral writers. This was written by Mr. 
Jones, at the age of fifteen, and is the original of the 
poem, which he afterwards published, under the title 
of Arcadia.* 

The variations between his first attempt and sub¬ 
sequent publication are very considerable. In his 
* Works, vol. iv. page 478. 


39 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


earliest composition he makes Menalcas, who repre¬ 
sents Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry, adopt 
the language of Chaucer, as the only model he could 
take for a specimen of the English Doric. Spenser 
speaks in his own dialect, and, as the poet says. 

Masks in the roughest veil the sweetest song. 

In the original essay, Mr. Jones gives the prize to 
Tityrus, or Virgil ; but, in the latter, Theocritus 
divides the kingdom of Arcadia between Virgil and 
Spenser, and assigns to them his two daughters, Daphne 
and Hyla, by whom he understands the two sorts of 
pastoral poetry: the one elegant and polished, the other 
simple and unadorned; in both which Theocritus excels. 

The remaining poems in the collection consist of 
translations and imitations of Horace, Sophocles, and 
Theocritus; Saul and David, an Ode; and a Satire on 
the inordinate Love of Novelty. 

A manuscript of these poems, in the hand-writing of 
Mr. Jones, was presented to Lady Jones, by Sir John 
Parnell, a few weeks only before his death. I select, as 
a specimen of Mr. Jones’s poetical talents, at the age 
of fourteen, the shortest in the collection, in imitation 
of a well-known Ode of Horace, and addressed to his 
friend Parnell. 

How quickly fades the vital flow’r ! 

Alas, my friend ! each silent hour 
Steals unperceiv’d away: 

The early joys of blooming youth, 

Sweet innocence, and dove-eyed truth, 

Are destined to decay. 

Can zeal drear Pluto's wrath restrain ? 

No ; tho’ an hourly victim stain 

His hallow’d shrine with blood, 

Fate will recal her doom for none : 

The scepter'd king must leave his throne, 

To pass the Stygian flood. 



SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


31 


In vain, my Parnell, wrapt in ease, 

We shun the merchant-marring seas; 

In vain we fly from wars : 

In vain we shun th’ autumnal blast, 

(The slow Cocytus must be past) 

How needless are our cares ! 

Our house, our land, our shadowy grove, 

The very mistress of our love, 

Ah me ! we soon must leave. 

Of all our trees, the hated boughs 
Of cypress shall alone diffuse 

Their fragrance o’er our grave. 

To others shall we then resign 
The num’rous casks of sparkling wine, 

Which, frugal, now we store ; 

With them a more deserving heir 
(Is this our labour, this our care ?) 

Shall stain the stucco floor. 

1760. 

The new situation of Mr. Jones, at the university, 
did not at first correspond with his expectations.... 
Under the tuition of a master, who saw with admira¬ 
tion his capacity and application, who was anxious to 
assist his exertions, and rewarded their success with 
unlimited applause, his ardour for learning had been 
raised to a degree of enthusiasm: at the university, 
he expected to find a Sumner or Askew in every mas¬ 
ter of arts, and generally the same passion for literature, 
which he had himself imbibed. It was evident that 
such extravagant expectations must be disappointed; 
and from the public lectures he derived little gratifica¬ 
tion or instruction: they were much below the standard 
of his attainments, and, in fact, were considered as 
merely formal. Instead of pure principles, on subjects of 
taste, on rhetoric, poetry, and practical morals, he com¬ 
plained that he was required to attend dull comments on 
artificial ethics, and logic,detailed in such barbarous La- 


32 • 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


tin, that he professed to know as little of it as he then knew 
of Arabic. The only logic then in fashion was that of 
the schools; and, in a memorandum written by himself, 
which is my authority for these remarks, I find an 
anecdote related of one of the fellows, who was reading 
Locke with his own pupils, that he carefully passed 
over every passage in wdiich that great metaphysician 
derides the old system. 

With the advice of Dr. Sumner, he was preparing 
for the press his Greek and Latin compositions, includ¬ 
ing a comedy, written in the language and measures of 
Aristophanes. But his solicitude to appear as an author 
was perhaps prudently checked by the advice of his 
friends; and the proposed publication, from which he 
expected an increase of reputation, was reluctantly post¬ 
poned. This comedy, which bears the title of Mormo, 
still exists; but in a state of such mutilation, from the 
depredations of worms and time, that it cannot be pub¬ 
lished without very copious conjectural emendations. 

After the residence of a few months at the univer¬ 
sity, on the 31st of October, 1764, Mr. Jones was 
unanimously elected one of the four scholars on the 
foundation of Sir Simon Bennett, to whose munificence 
he was ever proud to acknowledge his obligations.... 
The prospect of a fellowship, to which he looked with 
natural impatience, was, however, remote, as he had 
three seniors. 

His partiality for Oriental literature now began to 
display itself in the study of the Arabic, to which he 
was strongly incited by the example and encourage¬ 
ment of a fellow-student, of great worth and abilities, 
who had acquired some knowledge in that celebrated 
language, and offered him the use of the best books, 
with which he was well provided. In acquiring the 
pronunciation, he was assisted by a native of Aleppo, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. ‘33 

who spoke and wrote the vulgar Arabic fluently, but 
was without any pretensions to the character of a 
scholar. Mr. Jones accidentally discovered him in 
London, where he usually passed his vacations, and 
prevailed upon him to accompany him to Oxford, under 
a promise of maintaining him there. This promise he 
was obliged exclusively to fulfil for several months, at 
an expense which his finances could ill afford, being 
disappointed in the hopes which he had entertained, 
that some of his brother-collegians might be inclined 
to avail themselves of the assistance of the Syrian, and 
participate with him in the expense of his maintenance. 

The disgust expressed by Mr. Jones, after his first 
introduction into the university, soon subsided, and 
his time now passed with great satisfaction to himself. 
He found in it all the means and opportunity of instruc¬ 
tion which he could wish ; and adopted that respectful 
attachment to it which he ever after retained. His 
college tutors, who saw that all his hours were devoted 
to improvement, dispensed with his attendance on their 
lectures, alleging, with equal truth and civility, that he 
could employ his time to more advantage. Their ex¬ 
pectations were not disappointed: he perused with 
great assiduity all the Greek poets and historians of 
note, and the entire works of Plato and Lucian, with 
a vast apparatus of commentaries on them; constantlv 
reading with a pen in his hand, making remarks, and 
composing in imitation of his favourite authors. Some 
portion of every morning he allotted to Mirza, whom 
he employed in translating the Arabian Tales of Galland 
into Arabic, writing himself the translation from the 
mouth of the Syrian. He afterwards corrected the 
grammatical inaccuracies of the version, by the help of 
Erpenius and Golius. 


G 


34 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

In the course of his application to this ancient lan¬ 
guage he discovered, what he never before suspected, a 
near connection between the modern Persic and Arabic; 
and he immediately determined to acquire the former. 
He, accordingly, studied it with* attention, in the only 
Persian grammar then extant; and having laboured 
diligently at the Gulistan of Sadi, assisted by the accu¬ 
rate, but inelegant, version of Gentius, and at the well- 
chosen praxis at the close of Meninski’s grammar, he 
found his exertions rewarded with rapid success. 

His vacations were past in London, w r here he daily 
attended the schools of Angelo, for the purpose of 
acquiring the elegant accomplishments of riding and 
fencing. Fie was always a strenuous advocate for the 
practice of bodily exercises, as no less useful to invi¬ 
gorate his frame, than as a necessary qualification for 
any active exertions, to which he might eventually be 
called. At home, his attention w r as directed to the 
modern languages; and he read the best authors in 
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, following in all res¬ 
pects the plan of education recommended by Milton, 
which he had by heart; and thus, to transcribe an ob¬ 
servation of his own, with the fortune of a peasant, 
giving himself the education of a prince. 

If the literary acquisitions of Mr* Jones, at this period, 
be compared with his years, few instances will be found 
in the annals of biography, of a more successful appli¬ 
cation of time and talents, than he exhibits; and it is 
worthy of observation, that he was no less indebted' to 
his uncommon industry and method for his attainments, 
than to his superior capacity. 

A mind thus occupied in the pursuit of universal 
literature, was little susceptible of the passions of ava¬ 
rice or ambition ; but, as he was sensible that the 
charges attending his education, notwithstanding his 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


35 


habitual attention to economy, must occasion a consi¬ 
derable deduction from the moderate income which his 
mother possessed, he anxiously wished for a fellowship, 
that he might relieve her from a burden which she could 
ill support. If the prospect of acquiring that advantage 
had not been remote, no temptation would have seduced 
him from the university; but at the period when he 
began to despair of obtaining it, he received, through 
Mr. Arden, whose sister was married to his friend 
Sumner, an offer to be the private tutor of Lord Ah 
thorpe, now Earl Spencer. He had been recommended 
to the family of this nobleman by Dr. Shipley, to whom 
he was not then personally known, but who had seen and 
approved his compositions at Harrow, and particularly a 
Greek oration in praise of Lyon, an honest yeoman, 
who founded the school at that place, in the reign of 
Elizabeth, The proposal was cheerfully accepted by 
Mr. Jones, and, in his nineteenth year, he went to 
London, and was so delighted with the manners of his 
pupil, then just seven years old, that he abandoned all 
thoughts of a profession, and resolved to devote him¬ 
self to the faithful discharge of the important duties of 
his new situation. He had the satisfaction to find that 
this determination would probably restore him to the 
society of his best and most respected friend. Dr. 
Sumner; as he understood from Mr. Arden, that his 
pupil, after some preliminary instruction, would be 
fixed at Harrow. 

He returned for the present to Oxford, where he re¬ 
mained for a few months, and, in the summer of 1765, 
went, for the first time, as had been proposed, to Wim¬ 
bledon Park, to take upon himself the charge of his 
pupil’s education. 

He was now placed in a sphere perfectly new to him. 
If he quitted the university with a regret proportioned 


36 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


to his increasing attachment to it, his change of situa¬ 
tion offered other advantages, amongst which he justly 
esteemed his introduction into the first ranks of society, 
and a residence in one of the most agreeable places in 
the kingdom. He had new objects to engage his obser¬ 
vation, and an interesting occupation, from the dis¬ 
charge of which he derived great satisfaction; his appli¬ 
cation to literature was pursued without interruption; 
for although he resided at Wimbledon until the ap¬ 
proach of the winter only, he found sufficient leisure to 
compose many of his English poems, and to read the 
greatest part of the Old Testament in Hebrew, parti¬ 
cularly the book of Job, and the prophets, which he 
studied with great attention. 

In the course of the following summer, by an unex¬ 
pected concurrence of circumstances, a fellowship, 
which, in his estimation, gave him absolute indepen¬ 
dence, was bestowed upon him, and he went for a short 
time to Oxford, that he might go through the regular 
forms of election and admission. He was, accordingly, 
elected fellow, on the foundation of Sir Simon Bennet, 
on the 7th of August, 1766. 

The idea of deriving an absolute independence from 
an annual income, not exceeding, upon an average, one 
hundred pounds, may appear ridiculous, when con¬ 
trasted with the enlarged estimate of a competence in 
these times. But this sum, in fact, was more than the 
wise economy of a college life then made necessary for 
a single man, whose habits of prudence were formed; 
and Mr. Jones considered his fellowship as a freehold, 
in a place for which he had now contracted an enthu¬ 
siastic fondness, where he had access to extensive 
libraries, rare manuscripts, the company of learned men, 
and all, as he expressed himself, that his heart could 
wish; and, if he had obtained it a year sooner, he would 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


sr 


probably have been induced to decline the delicate and 
responsible task of education. 

On his return to Wimbledon, he was flattered by an 
offer from the duke of Grafton, then at the head of the 
Treasury, of the place of Interpreter for Eastern lan¬ 
guages : but, although the acceptance of it might not 
have interfered with his other pursuits, or engagements, 
he declined it politely, but without hesitation, earnestly 
requesting that it might be conferred upon Mirza, whose 
character he wrote. This disinterested solicitation was 
unnoticed; and his disappointment made him regret 
his ignorance of the world, in not accepting the prof¬ 
fered office, under a resolution to consign the entire 
emoluments of it to his Syrian friend. 

During his summer residence at Wimbledon he 
formed an acquaintance to which he owed the future 
happiness of his life. He there saw, for the first time, 
Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of Dr. Shipley, then 
dean of Winchester : but whatever impressions her 
person and conversation made upon the heart of Mr. 
Jones, his fixed ideas of an honourable independence , and 
a determined resolution never to owe his fortune to a 
wife, or her kindred, excluded all ideas of a matri¬ 
monial connection. In different circumstances he might, 
perhaps, have then solicited an alliance, which he after¬ 
wards courted and obtained. $%*,. 

The family of Lord Spencer removed late in autumn 
to London; and Mr. Jones, with his usual avidity to 
acquire the accomplishments of a gentleman, as well as 
those of a scholar, privately arranged a plan with Gallini, 
who attended the younger part of the family, for receiv¬ 
ing instructions from him in dancing; at the same time 
he continued his morning attendance, without inter¬ 
mission, at the two schools of Angelo, with whose 
manners he was extremely pleased. Before he left 


38 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


London, he had an opportunity, which he did not 
neglect, of learning the use of the broad-sword, from an 
old pensioner at Chelsea, who had been active, as his 
scars proved, in many engagements, and whose narrative- 
propensity frequently amused him. 

The acquisition of his new accomplishment, by Gal- 
lini’s assistance, had been made with secrecy; and the 
display of it enabled him to participate, with much satis¬ 
faction, in the evening amusements at Althorpe, where 
he passed the winter with his pupil. But his greatest 
delight was furnished by an excellent library, in which 
he found intellectual treasures of the highest value, in 
his estimation: scarcely a single book escaped his 
inspection; and some of the most rare he perused with 
indefatigable application. It was at this period, in the 
twenty-first year of his age, that he began his Com¬ 
mentaries on Asiatic Poetry, in imitation of Dr. Low'th’s 
Prelections at Oxford, on the sacred poetry of the 
Hebrews. 

The summer of 1767 opened a new scene to him. 
The indisposition of lord Spencer rendered a journey to 
Spa advisable for the restoration of his health ; and Mr. 
Jones attended the family: but his residence on the 
continent was too short to gratify his curiosity. At 
Spa he remained only three weeks, part of which he 
dedicated to the lessons of Janson, of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
a most incomparable dancing-master, and part to the 
acquisition of the German language, in which he so far 
succeeded, as to be able to read Gesner with delight, 
assisted only by an excellent German grammar and 
dictionary : the pronunciation he had formerly learned 
from a fellow-collegian, who had passed some years 
at Brunswick. He would gladly have availed himself 
of the instruction of a German master; but none w 7 as 
to be found at Spa, and his finances were unequal 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 39 

to the expense of procuring that assistance from Aix- 
la-Chapelle. Notwithstanding these occupations, he 
found leisure to participate in all the amusements of the 
place. 

In the winter of 1767, Mr. Jones resided with his 
pupil at Althorpe: the attention of Lord Spencer’s 
family was then much occupied in the contested election 
at Northampton; but as he had neither inclination nor 
inducement to take any part in it, he confined himself 
chiefly to the library, which never failed to supply him 
with increasing sources of entertainment and improve¬ 
ment. His excursions into the regions of literature 
•were unlimited; and as his application was directed 
with his usual perseverance, he nearly completed his 
Commentaries, transcribed an Arabic manuscript on 
Egypt and the Nile, borrowed from Dr. Russel, and 
copied the keys of the Chinese language, which he 
wished to learn. 

The close of the year is marked with an occurrence, 
which, probably, had a material influence on the deter¬ 
mination of his future pursuits. From a motive of mere 
curiosity he was prompted to peruse the little treatise 
of Fortescue, in praise of the laws of England; and, 
although he was more diverted with the simplicity of 
the Latin style, than attracted by the subject, he felt so 
much interest in the work, as to sudy it with consider¬ 
able attention. In the course of the reflections which it 
excited, he was naturally, led to a comparison of the 
laws of England with those of other countries, and he 
marked with delight their uncontroverted claim to 
superiority over the laws of every other state, ancient 
or modern. Of this fact he acknowledged that he had 
never before entertained an idea. He was now' qualified 
to appreciate, "with more accuracy, the merits and defects 
of the republican system of Greece and Rome, for which 


40 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


he had adopted a strong partiality, natural to an enthu¬ 
siastic admirer of the orators and poets of those celebra¬ 
ted nations; and to examine their jurisprudence by a 
standard of comparison, which impressed his mind with 
a decided reverence for the institutions of his own 
country. He was not, however, regardless of the 
deviations in practice from the theoretical perfection of 
the constitution in the contested election, of which 
he was an unwilling spectator. 

From Althorpe he removed, in the spring of 1768 , to 
Wimbledon, where he received a proposal from Mr. 
Sutton, then under-secretary to the duke of Grafton; 
the account of which I shall relate nearly in his own 
w r ords.* 

The king of Denmark, then upon a visit to this 
country, had brought with him an Eastern manuscript, 
containing the life of Nadir Shah, which he was desirous 
of having translated in England. The secretary of 
state, with whom the Danish minister had conversed 
upon the subject, sent the volume to Mr. Jones, request¬ 
ing him to give a literal translation of it, in the French 
language; but he wholly declined the task, alleging, for 
his excuse, the dryness of the subject, the difficulty of 
the style, and chiefly his want both of leisure and ability, 
tq enter upon -an undertaking so fruitless and laborious. 
He mentioned, however, a gentleman, with whom he 
was not then acquainted, but who had distinguished 
himself by the translation of a Persian history, and some 
popular tales from the Persic, as capable of gratifying 
the wishes of his Danish majesty. Major Dow,; the 
writer alluded to, excused himself on account ot his 
numerous engagements; and the application to Mr. 
Jones was renewed. It was hinted, that his compliance 

* Introduction to tlie History of the Life of Nadir Shah. Works, 
▼ol. v. p. 531. 


41 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

would be of no small advantage to him, at his entrance 
into life, that it would procure him some mark of dis¬ 
tinction, which would be pleasing to him, and, above 
all, that it would be a reflection upon this country, if 
the king should be obliged to carry the manuscript into 
France. Incited by these motives, and principally the 
last, unwilling to be thought churlish or morose, and 
eager for reputation, he undertook the work, and sent a 
specimen of it to his Danish majesty, who returned his 
approbation of the style and method, but desired that 
the whole translation might be perfectly literal, and the 
Oriental images accurately preserved. The task would 
have been far easier to him, if he had been directed to 
finish it in Latin; for the acquisition of a French style 
was infinitely more tedious, and it was necessary to have 
every chapter corrected, by a native of France, before 
it could be offered to the discerning eye of the public; 
since, in every language there are certain peculiarities 
of idiom, and nice shades of meaning, which a foreigner 
can never attain to perfection. The work, however 
arduous and unpleasant, was completed in a year, not 
without repeated hints from the secretary’s office, that 
it was expected with great impatience by the court of 
Denmark. The translation was not, however, published 
until 1770. Forty copies, upon large paper, were sent 
to Copenhagen; one of them, bound with uncommon 
elegance, for the king himself, and the others as presents 
to his courtiers. 

Such were the circumstances which induced him, (as 
he modestly observed) against his inclinations, to de¬ 
scribe the life of a conqueror, and to appear in public as 
an author, before a maturity of judgment.had made him 
see the danger of the step. If (to quote his own words) 
he had reflected on the little solid glory which a man 
reaps from acquiring a name in literature, on the jea- 

H 


42 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


lousy and envy which attend such an acquisition, on the 
distant reserve which a writer is sure to meet with from 
the generality of mankind, and on the obstruction which 
a contemplative habit gives to our hopes of being dis¬ 
tinguished in active life; if all or any of these reflec¬ 
tions had occurred to him, he would not have been 
tempted, by any consideration, to enter upon so invi¬ 
dious and thankless a career; but , as Tully says, he 
would have considered , before he embarked , the nature 
and extent of his voyage; now , since the sails are spread> 
the vessel must take its course . 

What marks of distinction he received, or what fruits 
he reaped from his labours, he thought it would ill be¬ 
come him to mention, at the head of a work, in which 
he professed to be the historian of others, and not of 
himself; but, to repel the false assertions which appeared 
in an advertisement on this subject, in the public papers, 
containing a most unjust reflection on the king of Den¬ 
mark, he considered it a duty imposed upon him, by 
the laws of justice and gratitude, to print, at the begin¬ 
ning of his translation, the honourable testimony of 
regard which his majesty, Christian VII. sent publicly 
to London, a few months after the receipt of the work, 
together with the letter of thanks which he returned for 
so signal a token of his favour.* From these docu¬ 
ments it appears that his Danish majesty sent to him 
a diploma, constituting him a member of the Royal 
Society of Copenhagen, and recommended him, in the 
strongest terms, to the favour and benevolence of his 
own sovereign. 

To the history of Nadir Shah he added a Treatise on 
Oriental Poetry, in the language of the translation; 
and I may venture to assert, that Mr. Jones was the 


* See Works, vol. v. Preface. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 43 

only person in England, at that time, capable of pro¬ 
ducing a work, which required a critical knowledge of 
two foreign languages; one of which was scarcely 
known in Europe. Indeed, when we consider the ac¬ 
curacy of the translation, which has been acknowledged 
by the most competent judges, the extreme difficulty 
attending a literal version of Oriental imagery and 
idioms, the errors common to all manuscripts, which 
he had no means of amending by the collation of dif¬ 
ferent copies, and the elegance and correctness of his 
French style, we cannot but express our astonishment 
at the perfection of his performance, and the rapidity 
with which it was completed. The annexed treatise 
on Oriental poetry is instructive and elegant, interest¬ 
ing from its novelty, and entertaining from its subject 
and variety, and exhibits the combined powers of taste 
and erudition. This work was executed by a»young 
man in his twenty-third year; and the motives which 
induced him to undertake it had an equal influence on 
his exertions to render it as perfect as possible. 

In detailing the circumstances attending the first 
publication of Mr. Jones, I have carried the narrative 
to its conclusion, with some anticipation of the order of 
time. Part of the summer of 1768 he passed at Tun¬ 
bridge, where his private studies formed his chief oc¬ 
cupation, and the winter of that year, in London. He 
availed himself of the opportunity, which his situation 
there afforded, of beginning to learn music; and having 
made choice of the Welch harp, for which he had a 
national partiality, he received lessons from Evans, as 
long as he remained in town; but, as he was then igno¬ 
rant of the theory , of music, the mere practice, without 
a knowledge of the principles of the art, gave him little 
delight. I know not that he ever afterwards resumed 
the practice of the harp, nor is it to be regretted that he 


44 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


employed the time, which must have been dedicated to 
the attainment of any degree of perfection on this in¬ 
strument, in more important pursuits. 

In the beginning of this year Mr. Jones formed an ac¬ 
quaintance with Reviczki, afterwards the Imperial mi¬ 
nister at Warsaw, and ambassador at the court of Eng¬ 
land, with the title of count. This learned and accom¬ 
plished nobleman was deeply captivated with the charms 
of Oriental literature; and the reputation of Mr. Jones, 
as an Oriental scholar, attracted his advances towards 
an intimacy, which were eagerly received. 

After their separation, they commenced a correspon¬ 
dence, which was cultivated with attention for many 
years. Of this correspondence much has been lost, 
and many of the remaining letters are defaced and 
mutilated. They generally wrote in Latin, occasionally 
in French, on literary subjects chiefly, but more parti¬ 
cularly on Oriental literature. From that part of the 
correspondence, which took place in 1768, I select 
such letters as seem to fall within my plan, and now 
present a familiar translation of them to my readers. 

* Mr. Jones to C. Reviczki. 

How pleasing was that half hour to me, in which 
we conversed on Persian poetry, our mutual delight. 
I considered it the commencement of a most agreeable 
friendship and intercourse between us; but my expec¬ 
tations are disappointed by the circumstances in which 
we are unavoidably placed; fcr my business will con¬ 
fine me to the country longer than I wish; and you, as 
I am informed, are preparing to return immediately to 
Germany. I have, therefore, to lament that our intimacy 


Appendix, No. X. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


45 


is, as it were, nipped in the bud. I am not, however, 
without this consolation, that if I cannot personally 
converse with you, I can at least correspond with you, 
and thus enjoy the satisfaction arising from a commu¬ 
nication of our sentiments and studies. In mentioning 
our friendship , I shall not, I trust, be deemed guilty of 
an improper freedom. Similarity of studies, fondness for 
polite literature, congenial pursuits, and conformity of 
sentiments, are the great bonds of intimacy amongst 
mankind. Our studies and pursuits are the same, with 
this difference, indeed, that you are already deeply 
versed in Oriental learning, whilst I am incessantly 
labouring, with all my might, to obtain a proficiency 
in it. But I will not allow you to excel me in partiality 
for those studies, since nothing can exceed my delight 
in them. From my earliest years I was charmed with 
the poetry of the Greeks; nothing, I then thought, 
could be more sublime than the Odes of Pindar, nothing 
sweeter than Anacreon, nothing more polished or ele¬ 
gant than the golden remains of Sappho, Archilochus, 
Alcaeus, and Simonides; but when I had tasted the 
poetry of the Arabs and Persians * * * * * 

The remainder of this letter is lost; but from the 
context, and the answer of Reviczki, we may conclude 
that it contained an elaborate panegyric on Eastern 
poetry, expressed with all the rapture which noyelty 
inspires, and in terms degrading to the Muses of Greece 
and Rome. 

C. Reviczki to JV. Jones , Esquire .#• 

sir, London , Feb. 19, 1768. 

I am highly gratified by your recollection of me, as 
well as by the repeated compliments which you pay me, 


Appendix, No. 2. 


46 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


in your letters to Madame de Vaucluse. I must ac¬ 
knowledge that I feel not a little proud of them; but 
still more that an interview of a quarter of an hour has 
procured me the honour of your friendship. I should 
be most happy to cultivate it, if my plans allowed me 
fo remain longer in this country, or if I could, at least, 
see you at Oxford, which I purpose visiting before I 
leave England. I hear, with pleasure, that you have 
undertaken to publish a Treatise on Oriental Prosody. 
As I am convinced that you will perform this task most 
ably and successfully, I anticipate with satisfaction the 
mortification of all our European poets, who must 
blush at the poverty of their prosaic language, when they 
find that the Oriental dialects (independently of rhyme, 
which is of their invention) have true syllabic quantities, 
as well as the Greek, and a greater variety of feet, and 
consequently the true science of metre and prosody. 

I take the liberty of sending you a rough sketch of 
one of my latest translations from Hafez, with whom I 
sometimes amuse myself in a leisure hour. You are 
too well acquainted with the genius of the Persian lan¬ 
guage, not to perceive the rashness of my attempt. I 
do not, indeed, pretend to give the beauty of the 
original, but merely its sense, simple and unornament¬ 
ed. I have added to it a very free paraphrase in verse, 
in which, however, the greatest deviation from the text 
consists in the occasional substitution of mistress for 
mignon , either to give a connection to the stanzas, 
which in this kind of composition is never preserved, 
or to make it more conformable to our European taste. 
The Persian poet, indeed, speaks of his mistress in the 
first verse. 

You will find, in the margin, several quotations from 
the Greek and Latin poets, which occurred to my re¬ 
collection whilst I was reading Hafez, expressing the 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


4 7 


same sentiments with the Persian. I hope to have the 
satisfaction of seeing you here before I leave England, 
assuring you, with truth, that I consider the honour of 
your acquaintance among the greatest advantages attend¬ 
ing my visit to this country. 

I am, &c. 

* C. Reviczki to Mr, Jones , 

sir, London , Feb . 24, 1768. 

I received your learned and obliging letter on the 
same day on which I wrote to you; and I read it with 
the greatest pleasure, though I could have wished that 
it had been more just to your own merit, and less flatter¬ 
ing to me. I will not, however, take your expressions I 
literally ; and, notwithstanding your declarations, the ! 
taste and judgment which you have displayed, in the pas¬ 
sages quoted by you, evidently prove that you have ad¬ 
vanced far in Oriental literature. I must, however, beg 
quarter for the Greek and Latin; for admitting, what I 
am not disposed to deny, the perfection, and even the 
superiority, of the Orientals, particularly the Persians, in 
some species of poetry, I would, without hesitation, 
renounce ail knowledge of the three Eastern languages 
for that of the Greek alone. I rejoice that you have 
made so much progress in your work, and that I may 
hope soon to see it published; but how to assist you 
with my advice I know not, as I have not with me a 
single treatise upon the subject of Oriental prosody.... 

It is, in truth, an ocean; and such are the abundance 
and variety of measures used by the Orientals, that no 
memory can retain them. 

I am very anxious to learn under what head you class 
the Kasidah, a species of composition highly admired 
by the Arabs, and very successfully cultivated by them. 

* Appendix, N. 3. 





48 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


It has a nearer resemblance than any other kind of 
poetry to the Latin elegy, but its construction partakes 
of that of the Gazel ,* with this difference, that the latter 
is restricted to thirteen couplets, whilst the number of 
those in the Kasidah is unlimited; and secondly, that 
in each distich of the Gazel , the sense must be complete 
and finished, whilst, in the Kasidah, the sentiment is 
continued through successive lines. - 

Of this species of composition I do not know a more 
perfect specimen than the poem on the death of Mahom- 
med, so celebrated throughout the East, that every man 
of letters can repeat it. It is one continued allegory, but 
admirable and pathetic, and begins, if I rightly remem¬ 
ber, thus : 

Does memory recal the blissful bowers 
Of Solyma, the seat of many a friend? 

That thus, thy grief pours forth such copious showers^ 

And bursting sighs thy labTing bosom rend. 

With respect to your doubts, on the supposed allegory 
of Hafez, much may be said. I am rather inclined to 
believe, that the mystical exposition of this great poet, 
by the Mahommedans, may be imputed to their venera¬ 
tion and respect for his memory; and that their object 
in it is to justify his conduct as a poet, by representing 
him equally irreproachable in his morals and composi¬ 
tions. Most of the commentators, as Shemy, Surury, 
and others, labour to give a mystical interpretation of 
his verses on wine, youths, pleasures, and a contempt 
for religion, so discreditable to a good mussulman; but 
the ablest of them all, the learned Sadi, disclaims this 
mode of illustration, and professes to give a literal ex¬ 
position of the text of Hafez, in opposition to the 

* Amatory Poem. It is not restricted to thirteen couplets, as Reviczki 
writes, "but to seventeen, and generally contains about seven or eight. 


49 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

opinions of other commentators, and without question¬ 
ing the purity of their intentions. It may not be amiss 
to communicate to you an anecdote, which I have read, 
somewhere, respecting Hafez.* After the death of this 
great man, some of the'religious were disposed to deny 
his body the right of sepulture, alleging, in objection, 
the licentiousness of his poetry. After a long dispute, 
they left the decision to a divination in use amortgst 
V them, by opening his book at random, and taking the 
first couplet which occurred. It happened to be this: 

Turn not away from Hafez’ bier, 

Nor scornful check the pitying tear ; 

For tho’ immers’d in sin he lies, 

His soul forgiv’n to Heav’n shall rise. 

This passage was deemed a divine decision; the 
religious withdrew their objections, and he was buried 
in Mosella, a place rendered famous by his own verses. 
This anecdote, I think, is related by Kaleb Celebi. As 
to myself, although I am disposed to believe that, when 
Hafez speaks of love and wine, he has no recondite 

* This anecdote is quoted by Sir William Tones, in the 9th chapter of 
his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, where he states the respective 
arguments in support of a literal or mystical interpretation of it. With¬ 
out pronouncing a positive decision, he gives an opinion in favour of a 
literal interpretation as the most probable. 

In an essay on the mystical poetry of the Persians and Hindus, com¬ 
posed some years afterwards in India, (Works, vol. i. page 445.) he thus 
expresses himself on the subject: u It has been made a question whether 
“ the poems of Hafez must be taken in a literal or figurative sense ; but 
u the question does not admit of a general and direct answer ; for even 
u the most enthusiastic of his commentators allow that some of them are 
u to be taken literally, and his editors ought to have distinguished them. 
“ Hafez never pretended to more than human virtues, and it is known 
“ that he had human propensities....After his juvenile passions had sub¬ 
sided, we may suppose that his mind took that religious bent, which 
“ appears in most of his compositions ; for there can be no doubt that 
“ the following distichs, collected from different odes, relate to the 
“ mystical theology of the Sufis, 8tc.” 


I 


50 


MEMOIRS OF THE* LIFE OF 


meaning, I am equally willing to declare, that his 
writings are not disgraced by those obscenities, nof 
those gross and filthy expressions, which so frequently 
occur in Sadi. 

Nor can I avoid considering him a free thinker; 
and a hundred passages might be quoted, in which the 
poet ridicules the prophet and his Coran; as for instance, 
when he says, 

Wine, that our sober Seer proclaims 
Parent of sin, and foul misnames, 

With purer joy my soul beguiles 
Than beauty’s bloom, or beauty’s smiles. 

As to the Turkish poets, I confess I do not read 
them with the same pleasure, although I am willing to 
allow that some of them have merit. In my opinion, 
Ruhi, of Bagdat, is the most agreeable of them all; he 
has written some admirable satires. Perhaps you are 
not acquainted with him. The Turkish poets, in 
general, are no better than slavish imitators of the 
Persians, and often deficient in taste and harmony. 

I cannot comprehend how you have discovered an 
indelicate meaning in these beautiful lines of Mesihi: 

Send me not, O God, to the tomb, before I 
have embraced my friend.... 

Unless you annex an idea of obscenity to the expression 
of embracing a youth, a subject which perpetually occurs 
not only in Oriental poetry, but in Greek and Latin. I 
send you a recent translation, with a request that you 
will return it when you are tired with it, as I have np 
copy. 

I am, with the greatest esteem and veneration, 

Sir, &g. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 
*C. Rcviczki to Mr, Jones, 


51 


London , March 7, 1768. 

I am at a loss to determine whether your letter has 
afforded me most pleasure or instruction; it is indeed 
so admirable, that I must point out the only fault which 
I find in it, that of brevity, although you seem appre¬ 
hensive of being thought tedious. I suspect that I am 
indebted to your partiality and politeness only, for the 
excessive encomiums which you have bestowed upon 
my translation of the two Odes which I sent to you, as 
well as for the favourable opinion which you entertain 
of my trifles. I am, however, seriously obliged to you 
for your animadversions upon my inaccuracies, though, 
when I consider their number, I must impute it to your 
indulgence that you have been so sparing in your cor¬ 
rections. Without wishing to lessen my obligations to 
your kindness, I cannot avoid mentioning, by way of 
apology, that it is only three months since I resumed 
the task of writing verses, which I renounced when I left 
school; and not from any motive of vanity, or desire of 
reputation, but merely as an amusement of my leisure 
hours. My relapse has produced the translation of about 
fifty odes of our learned Hafez, 

For whom, each hour a growing fondness brings,f 
As by degrees the vernal alder springs. 

But observing, in the progress of the work, the immense 
inferiority of my version to the original, I began to be 
disgusted with it. 

I recollect to have read somewhere, with great plea¬ 
sure, the Prelections of the bishop of Oxford, of which 

* Appendix, No. 4. 

f These lines are taken from a juvenile translation of Sir William 
Jones* 


52 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


you speak so highly, and which you propose to imitate; 
but I remember nothing more of this work than that,I 
thought both the style and arrangement of it equally ad¬ 
mirable. The Grecian and Oriental flowers, scattered 
throughout your letter, delighted me exceedingly; and 
your selection of them shews your judgment. I also 
approve your idea of visiting the East; but, previously 
to your undertaking it, I would recommend to you, to 
make yourself master of the common language of the 
Turks, or of the vulgar Arabic, not only as indispen¬ 
sably necessary to yo ( ur communications with the 
Mahommedans, but as a mean of deriving pleasure and 
profit from the journey. 

I do not mean to apply my censures on the servile 
imitations of Turkish authors to every species of imita¬ 
tion ; for, in some instances, the imitation, as in the case 
of Virgil, with respect to Hesiod, has surpassed the 
original. Nor can Hafez himself deny the imputation 
of plagiarism; having actually transcribed whole lines 
from other poets. FI is collection of poems begins with 
an instance of this kind; for the very first hemistich is 
transcribed from one of Yezid,* the son of Mowavea, 
with an alteration only in the collocation of the words, 
not to mention nearly a complete ode in another place; 
but I am disgusted with the flat and perpetual imitation 
of the many Turkish poets, to whom we may aptly ap¬ 
ply the words of Horace: 

Oh, servile herd of imitators!.... 

* Yezid was the son of Mowavea, the first caliph of the race of 
Qmmiali, and being- reproached by his father for excessive drinking, 
replied as follows: 

Does this thy wrath inspire, because I quaft 
The grape’s rich juice?....then doubly sweet the draught. 
Rage!....I will drink unmov’d; for to my soul 
Sweet is thy wrath, and sweet the flowing bowl. 





SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


53 


Do you wish to know my opinion respecting the 
other Persian poets, and whether I think Hafez alone 
elegant? Far from it; for who can read without extacy 
the first page of Sadi. Indeed, my passion for Orien¬ 
tal literature was first excited by hearing the following 
lines of Sadi, accidentally repeated by my teacher at 
Constantinople, who explained them to me: 

, All bounteous Lord! whose providential care 
E’en on thy proud rebellious sons descends; 

How canst thou bid thy votaries despair, 

Whose boundless mercy to thy foes extends ? 

But who can suppress his indignation, when he reads 
the wretched translation of this elegant writer by Gen- 
tius? I acknowledge, however, that I am more delight¬ 
ed with Hafez, who unites fine morality with cheerful¬ 
ness. With respect to Jami, whose works I do not at 
present possess, I remember enough of what I read at 
Constantinople to venture to assert, that he is the most 
successful of the Persian poets. In the judgment of 
Sadi, Hafez is unequal; some of his odes are excellent, 
others very inferior, and some very tame, whilst Jami 
preserves an equality throughout. I have not translated 
the ode of Hafez, “ If that fair maid, &c.”* into Latin 
verse, as the sense is so unconnected; but a prose trans¬ 
lation of it, with notes, if you wish to have it, is at your 
service. In the mean time, I send you my latest pro¬ 
duction, not complete indeed, but a mere embrio. 
Farewel. 

P. S. It is little to say, I approve your Arabic verses; 
I really admire them; but dare not, in this instance, 
attempt to imitate you. 

Reviczki. 

* See poetical translation of this ode, Sir William Jones’s Works, 
vol. ii. page 244. 


54 


MEMOIRS OF THE LILE OF 


* Reviczki to Mr. Jones. 

London , March 17, 1768. 

I was highly delighted with your letter, particularly 
with your various translations, imitations, and compo¬ 
sitions ; they not only prove you have 

Made the Greek authors your supreme delight, 

Read them by day, and studied them by night; t 

but that you have attained all the peculiar elevation, as 
well as elegance, of that language. Your Ode to Venus 
is as beautiful as Venus herself; and you have imitated 
with wonderful success so divine an original. 

Is it not melancholy to reflect that not only so much 
of the compositions of this elegant writer should be 
lost, but that the little which remains is so mutilated 
and corrupted? 

That the text of the ode selected by you, and even 
that preserved by Dionysius, and published by Upton, 
is preferable to that of Stephens, or, whoever made the 
emendations (such as they are), I freely admit; for the 
rules of dialect are not only better observed, but it 
contains stronger marks of being genuine; yet, after 
all, it is impossible to deny that there are many chasms 
in it, as well as errors, which cannot be satisfactorily 
amended by any explanation or twisting of the sense. 

That Sappho wrote in the dialect of her own coun¬ 
try, which cannot at this time be perfectly understood, 
is sufficiently probable; but it would be absurd to sup¬ 
pose the iEolic dialect irreconcileable to metre and 
prosody; not to mention the evident corruption of the 
sense in some passages. 

* % % % 


Appendix, No. 6. 


f Francis. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. S3 

Your translation of the Epigram on the Kiss of 
Agatho, is very elegant, and the idea in it resembles 
that of Hafez, in the following lines: j 

Anxious thy blooming charms to see, 

Quick to my lips my soul ascends ; 

Must it expire^or live ?....decree*... 

For on thy voice my fate depends. 

I send you, as I promised, a prose translation of the 
Persian ode, together with an attempt at a poetical 
version of it, which I will hereafter improve. Pray 
inform me whether there is any translation of Hafez, 
printed or manuscript, in Latin, or any other European 
language; for I know of no other attempt at a transla¬ 
tion of this poet, than that of the first ode, lately pub¬ 
lished in the Analecta of professor Hyde. 

I request, likewise, to be informed, where I am likely 
to find the first book of the Iliad of Homer, with an 
analysis and notes, for the use of scholars, printed in 
England, which a friend of mine wishes to procure for 
his son. 

The ode, of which you praise the concluding verse, 
is elegant; I remember only the first couplet: 

Bring wine, and scatter flow’rs around, 

Nor seek the depths of fate to sound.... 

Such was the morning-rose’s tale.... 

What say’st thou, warbler of the vale ? 

Although I have begun the preparations for my de¬ 
parture, and have packed up my books, if you wish to 
have a translation of this ode, or if it will be of any 
use to you, I will undertake it before I go. I wait 
your commands. FareweL 



SG 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


* C. Reviczki to Mr. Jones. 

London, March 29, 1768. 

That I have deferred longer than usual my reply 
to your obliging letter, you must impute to the novel 
and strange appearance of things here. You will not, I 
trust, be disposed to blame a delay occasioned by the 
attention of a foreigner to customs which are peculiar 
to your country, and which I never observed in any 
other; for I confess to you that I never saw any thing 
similar to the mode here pursued of electing members 
of parliament. The novelty of it at first amused me; 
but the increasing tumult sickened and disgusted me, 
and, by compelling me to remain at home, afforded me 
an opportunity of writing to you. I rejoice that my 
version of the Persian ode pleases you, and that it has . 
induced you to think me equal to the translation of the 
whole collection. But, highly as I am honoured by your 
opinion, I cannot but think your advice somewhat un¬ 
merciful; for what mortal, unless 

Or oak, or brass, with triple fold, 

Around his daring bosom roll’d,f 

would undertake a translation, in prose and verse, of six 
hundred odes. The attempt would not only require 
many years, but an entire exemption from ail other 
occupations, which is not my case; I can only make 
these studies my occasional anyisement. I mean, how¬ 
ever, some time or other, to publish as much as I can. 

The person who applied to me for the first book of 
the Iliad, with a verbal analysis, already possesses the 
key to Homer; but he thinks the other work better 


Appendix, No. 6. 


t Francis. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 57 

adapted to the use of boys, because the notes in it are 
subjoined to the text, which is not the plan of the Clavis. 
If you have one at hand, oblige me by just looking into 
it; for, if my memory does not fail me, there is a catalogue 
prefixed, mentioning the work which I want, and the 
name of the printer. 

Although your politeness has excused any further 
efforts, I nevertheless send the ode which you requested 
in your last letter but one, as I think it will please you. 
It is by no means one of the easiest, either to under¬ 
stand, or translate; and, indeed, the force of the peculiar 
idioms of a foreign language cannot be well conveyed 
by any circumlocution. 

You ask my opinion of the affinity between the 
Hebrew and Arabic, and of an idiom, common to both, 
of using the past for the future. Though I seldom read 
Hebrew, or, to say the truth, though I consider this 
sacred language rather as an object of veneration than 
of delight, (for excepting the Old Testament itself, and 
some rabbinical dreams about it, there is nothing in it 
worth perusal) I well remember, from the little of it 
which I have read, having remarked a close connection 
between the grammar of the Hebrew and Arabic, the 
moods and tenses in both are so few, as to require the 
substitution of one for the other; the Greek, however, 
which is so redundant in moods and tenses, sometimes 
does the same; for instance, when it uses the infinitive 
for the imperative. With respect to the measures used 
in the two languages, I am of a. different opinion ; for I 
consider the metrical art of the Arabs of much later 
invention, and to have assumed its present form, only a 
short time before Mahommed; there being no trace 
whatever among them of a more ancient poetry. If the 
Hebrew poetry had a similar construction, which may, 
indeed, be suspected from a similar use of the vowels, 


58 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


we might by this time have traced, without difficulty, 
the laws of Hebrew metre by the rules of analogy.* 

If the text of the ode, which you mention to have 
read in the miscellaneous works of some anonymous 
author, had been correct, you would not have wanted 
my humble assistance: but it is so full of errors, that I 
must be an Oedipus to interpret it. Every one knows, 
that the mere irregularity of the diacritical points 
occasions infinite difficulty in the Oriental languages ; 
but this is doubly increased by the casual omission or 
alteration of the letters themselves. It is, therefore, 
absolutely necessary, in my opinion, as it is impossible 
to find manuscripts without errors, to possess two 
copies of every one which you read, that the faults of 
the one may be corrected by the other; and this is my 
method. 

* % * * 

I have only to conclude by thanking you for your 
Italian sonnet, and expressing the commendation to 
which it is entitled_Farewel. 

fMr. Jones to C. Reviczki. 

April , 1768. 

Nbthing can afford a stronger proof of your polite 
attention to me than your last very friendly letter, 
which you contrived to write in the midst of city bustle, 

* The probability, that the metrical compositions of the Hebrews and 
Arabs were founded on the same rules of prosody, is intimated by Sir 
W. Jones, in his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, and proposed to the 
investigation of the learned. This opinion is suggested by the close 
affinity of the languages of those ancient people, whence he argues to a 
presumption that their poets used the same numbers, feet, and measures, 
in their compositions, 
f Appendix, No. 7. 


59 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

during the noise of riotous mobs, and the tumult of a 
parliamentary election, and to accompany it with a 
most beautiful Persian Ode, and a Latin translation. 
Our favourite Hafez deserves, indeed, to be fed with 
ambrosia; and I daily discover, with increasing delight, 
new beauties and elegancies in him. The principal 
difficulty attending the translation and publication of 
his poems, as you have begun, consists in giving them 
a poetical dress; but this will prove easier than you 
imagine; for there are many of his odes, which, I con¬ 
clude, you will not attempt to translate, as containing 
expressions wholly foreign to our manners, lofty and 
daring figures, or abrupt unconnected lines; and this 
will, in some measure, alleviate the Herculean labour 
of the task. 

* * * * - # * 

If I were not a sincere lover of truth, and averse 
from all dissimulation, I should lament that our capital 
has fallen under your inspection in these times of turbu¬ 
lence and distraction, when the liberty of my country, 
so universally celebrated, has degenerated into un¬ 
bridled licentiousness, not to say outrage. The origi¬ 
nal form of our constitution is almost divine;....to such 
a degree, that no state of Rome, or Greece, could ever 
boast one superior to it; nor could Plato, Aristotle, nor 
any legislator, even conceive a more perfect model of a 
state. The three parts, which compose it, are so harmo¬ 
niously blended and incorporated, that neither the flute 
of Aristoxenus, nor the lyre of Timotheus, ever pro¬ 
duced more perfect concord. What can be more 
difficult than to devise a constitution, which, while it 
guards the dignity of the sovereign and liberty of the 
people from any encroachment, by the influence and 
power of the nobility, preserves the force and majesty 


60 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of the laws from violation, by the popular liberty? This 
was the case formerly in our island, and would be So 
still, if the folly of some had not prompted them to spur 
on the populace, instead of holding them in. I cannot, 
therefore, restrain my indignation against Wilkes , a bold 
and able, but turbulent, man; the very torch and fire¬ 
brand of sedition. But what can be said in defence of 
the honour and consistency of some of our nobility, who, 
after having given him their countenance and support, 
shamefully deserted and betrayed him? 

If you wish to obtain more accurate information res¬ 
pecting our laws and customs, I recommend to your 
perusal Smith’s Treatise on the English Constitution, 
and the Dialogue of Fortescue, in praise of the Laws 
of England. Thomas Smith was the English ambassa¬ 
dor in France, in the reign of Elizabeth, and his work 
is in Latin, and not inelegantly written. To Fortes- 
cue’s little tract we may apply the words of Xenophon, 
to the Teleboas, “ it is not large, but beautiful.” He 
was Chancellor of England under Henry the Vlth, and 
was compelled, by the distractions of the times, to take 
refuge, with his pupil, prince Edward, in France, where, 
in an advanced age, he composed his little golden 
dialogue. These books will convince you that our 
laws are framed with the greatest wisdom, and that, as 
Pindar, quoted by Plato in his Gorgias, says, 

Sov’reign o’er all, eternal law 
On Gods and Men imposes awe, 

And justice, strengthen’d by her hand, 

O’er all exerts supreme command.- 

When I reflect on our constitution, I seem, as it 
were, to contemplate a game at chess, a recreation in 
which we both delight: for we have a king, whose 
dignity we strenuously defend, but whose power is very 


61 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

limited; the knights and rooks, and other pieces, have 
some kind of resemblance to the orders of nobility, who 
are employed in war, and in the management of public 
affairs; but the principal strength is in the pawns, or 
people: if these are firmly united, they are sure of vic¬ 
tory; but if divided and separated, the battle is lost. 
The motions of all, as in the game of chess, are regu¬ 
lated by fixed laws. Lastly, when I consider myself, 
I seem like a spectator, contemplating, for his mere 
amusement, the two parties at the game; but if it ever 
should be my lot to be concerned in the administration 
of affairs, I will renounce gain and popularity, and 
pursue one object, and one only, to preserve our beauti¬ 
ful constitution inviolate. 

Contrary to my intention, I find I have been prolix. 
I will, therefore, turn to another subject. I read your 
last letter with an apprehension that it might communi¬ 
cate the intelligence of your speedy departure from 
England; but as you are silent on this head, as my 
business here will soon be concluded, and as I know 
the uncertainty of all human affairs, I am determined to 
embrace an opportunity, which, if I now neglect, may 
not again occur, of paying you a visit in London, about 
the middle of the month....Farewel. 

* Mr. Jones to C. Re c viczki....No date....1768. 

I have received your two letters, replete with taste 
and erudition: your kindness towards me is as conspi¬ 
cuous in them, as the brilliancy of your genius. I now 
reply to both. 

Your approbation of my intention to publish my 
work, gives me, as it ought, great pleasure: for I can- 


Appendix, No. 8. 


62 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


not but rejoice, as Elector in the tragedy says, “ in the 
“ praise of one, who is himself entitled to praise.” 
The perusal of the two odes of the divine poet afforded 
me infinite delight; they are very beautiful, but their 
beauties are more conspicuous from your luminous 
interpretation. Your metrical imitation of them is 
elegant, and if you will allow me to publish it in my 
work, you will equally oblige me and my readers, who 
will be glad to see the Persian poet speak Latin. If 
you object to this, copies of them shall be deposited 
with my treasures, and the originals restored to you as 
soon as possible. You bid me return the verses to you 
when I am tired with them: this is as much as to say, 
keep them for ever; for it is impossible that I can ever 
be tired with the perusal. 

*#■ Mr * Jones to C. Reviczki . 

Oxford , November , 1768. 

I cannot resist the temptation of writing to you, 
although I fear you may have quitted this country be¬ 
fore my letter arrives. 

I have received your obliging letter, with an elegant 
ode of Hafez, which I read with the greatest pleasure, 
or rather devoured. 

But what necessity is there to say more, since it is 
possible that what I write may never reach you? Let 
me, again and again, intreat and beseech your remem¬ 
brance of me wherever you go; and that you will write 
to me as speedily, and at as great a length, as possible. 
Be assured that nothing has, or ever can, afford me 
greater pleasure than your friendship. 

* * * * # 


Appendix, No. 9. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


63 


These Letters strongly mark the enthusiasm of Mr. 
Jones, and his learned friend Reviczki, for Oriental 
literature; nor am I surprised to find that the former 
should have been led by it to entertain an intention of 
visiting the East: no one however, will regret that it 
was, at that period, abandoned. Every reader will 
peruse, with pleasure, the enthusiastic veneration ex¬ 
pressed by Mr. Jones for the British constitution, and 
the ardour with which he pronounces himself its cham¬ 
pion : they will also remark that his attachment to it 
was indelible, and acquired strength from his increas¬ 
ing knowledge of its laws and principles. 

For an account of his occupations at Wimbledon, 
where he passed the Spring of 1769, I shall transcribe 
part of a letter, which he wrote to an intimate friend, 
John Wilmot, Esquire. 

“ My life is one unvaried scene of writing letters, and 
44 attending the donzelle vezzose e tenerelle, by whose 
44 beauties I confess myself easily overcome. 

44 I have just read Robertson’s Life of Charles the 
44 Fifth, the narrative of which is amusing and instruc- 
44 tive, and the style flowing and elegant; but the former 
44 wants that spirit and fire of genius, that alone can 
44 make a history animated, and leave great impressions 
44 on the mind; and the latter has too great a sameness 
44 in the turn of the sentences, and abounds with too 
44 many affected words. 

z 44 I have also given my favourite Petrarch a second 
44 reading, and was so much pleased with his lamenta- 
44 tions over Laura, that I selected the most beautiful 
44 passages, and threw them all together in the form of 
44 an Elegy,* which I send you enclosed, but beg you 
44 will return it as soon as you can, as I have no other 


* Works, vol. iv. p. 459. 


64 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


“ copy. I fear I shall not be at Oxford this Spring, 
“ but am not certain. Give my compliments to Poore, 
“ and tell him, if he will descend from the starry temple 
“ of philosophy, and write to a very idle fellow, I shall 
“ be glad to hear from him, especially as I am desirous 
“ of knowing his sentiments about my Treatise de 
“ Poesi Asiatica.” 

^ * * * * 

In the summer of this year, lord Althorpe was settled 
at Harrow, and Mr. Jones, who accompanied him there, 
had the satisfaction of seeing himself restored to the 
society of Dr. Sumner. Their enthusiasm for litera¬ 
ture was equal: the master contemplated, with delight 
unmixed with envy, a rival of his own erudition in his 
scholar, who acknowledged, with gratitude, his obliga¬ 
tions to his preceptor. Their intercourse, although 
interrupted, had never been discontinued: and Mr. Jones 
seldom suffered any considerable time to elapse without 
visiting Harrow. During his residence there, at this 
period, he transcribed a Persian Grammar which he 
had three years before composed for the use of a school¬ 
fellow, who had been destined for India, but had since 
relinquished that object for a commission in the army. 

I find also from his correspondence, that he had begun 
a dictionary of the Persian language, in which the prin¬ 
cipal words were illustrated from the most celebrated 
authors of the East: but he expressed, at the same time, 
his determination not to continue the work, unless the 
India company would purchase it, at a considerable 
expense. 

The serious reader has probably remarked, that, 
amidst the attention of Mr. Jones to general literature, 
religion has not been mentioned as an object of his 
study; and he may be solicitous to know his opinions 


65 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

on this important subject, and whether he had made 
any, and what, progress in that knowledge, in com¬ 
parison of which all erudition is trilling, and human 
science vain. Notwithstanding the anxiety of Mrs. 
Jones for the improvement of her son, and her in¬ 
defatigable exertions to promote it in his early years, 
she had initiated him no further in the principles of our 
holy faith, than to teach him the Lord’s Prayer and 
Apostles’ Creed. During his residence at Harrow, at 
the earnest recommendation of Dr. Glasse, whose name 
I mention with reverence, Mr. Jones was induced to 
peruse a work, intitled, “ Private Thoughts on Re¬ 
ligion,” by bishop Beveridge, with considerable atten¬ 
tion; and he was particularly struck with a passage, in 
which the pious author argues, that a profession of 
Christianity, merely because our countrynften profess 
it, without a candid enquiry and sincere conviction, 
would be no better reason for our faith than the Mahom- 
medans have for theirs. The observation readily sug¬ 
gested to his recollection a famous couplet in Zayre, 
which he did not hesitate to apply to himself: 

J’eusse etc, pres du Gange, esclave des faux dieux, 

Chretienne dans Paris, Mussulmane en ces lieux. 

I w ish, for my own satisfaction, as w T ell as that of th¬ 
reader, that I were able to pronounce what impression 
the perusal of this work made upon the mind of Mr. 
Jones. It is probable, and the presumption is not 
advanced without reason, that it induced him to reflect 
with more seriousness than he had ever before enter¬ 
tained on the subject of religion, and to investigate the 
grounds on which the Old and New Testament had 
been received, during so many ages, as the word of 
God. It is evident, however, from a conversation with 
two of his clerical friends at Harrow, at this time, when 

L 


66 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


he was in his twenty-fourth year, that his belief in 
Christianity was not unmixed with doubts. These 
doubts were stated by him, in hopes of obtaining a 
solution of them; but being disappointed, he declared 
his determination to peruse the whole of the scriptures 
in the original, uninterruptedly, that he might be 
enabled to form a correct judgment of the connection 
between the two parts, and of their evidence both 
internal and external. The exposition of his doubts, to 
those whom he thought qualified to solve them, was a 
proof of his anxiety to know the truth; and the deter¬ 
mination which he formed, in consequence of his dis¬ 
appointment, is no less a proof of his sincerity in the 
search of it. I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of 
anticipating the conclusion to which his investigation 
led; a firm belief in the authenticity and inspiration of 
1/ the Holy Scriptures. 

In a Hebrew copy of the book of Hosea, I find a series 
of propositions in the hand-writing of Mr. Jones, con¬ 
taining the sketch of a demonstration of the divine 
authority of the Christian religion. These propositions 
appear to have been written near the period of the pre¬ 
ceding conversation at Harrow. They are not expressed 
with such accuracy, or elegance, as to justify a sup¬ 
position that they were intended to be made public ; but 
as I know that he always considered the demonstration 
contained in them satisfactory, I exhibit them as 
evidence of his early conviction of the truth and com¬ 
pletion of the prophecies respecting our Saviour. 

PROPOSITION i. 

- There is as much reason to believe, that the writings of 
Isaiah and the Hebrew prophets, as that those of Homer 
and the (srreek poets, are more ancient than the time of 
Jesus. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 67 

Objection. Some men might have an interest in forging 
Isaiah. 

Answer. Forged writings would have been more in 
point. Those of Isaiah bear no marks of forgery: and 
the Jews themselves, who were puzzled by them, ac¬ 
knowledged their antiquity. 

PROP. II. 

These ancient writings, especially Isaiah, allude to 
some great event, and to some real extraordinary person, 
4£ who was put to death, and complained not,” &c. Isa. 
c. liii. 

PROP. III. 

The life and death of Jesus, his virtues and doctrines, 
though not his miracles, are as much to be believed as 
the life and death of Socrates, his virtues, and his 
doctrine. 

PROP. iv. 

No person, in the history of the Jews, before or after 
Jesus, coincides with this account, except Jesus. 

Therefore Jesus w^as the subject of their writings, 
which are consequently inspired, and he a person of an 
extraordinary nature, that is, the Messiah. 

If this be just reasoning, we may believe his miracles, 
and must obey his law. 

If difficulties occur, and we are asked, “ how they can 
4t be solved?” we may safely answer, “ We do not 
“ know;” yet we may truly be, and justly be called, 
Christians. 

To these propositions the following note is sub¬ 
joined: “ What must be the importance of a book,” 
of which it may be truly said, “ if this book be not true, 
44 the religion which we profess is false?” 


68 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Jones returned with his pupil from Harrow, in 
the autumnal vacation of 1769, and availed himself of 
this opportunity to visit his friends at Oxford. During 
his residence there, he made an excursion to Forest 
Hill, the occasional habitation of Milton, for whose 
genius and learning he early and ever entertained the 
highest veneration. The public will read with pleasure 
his own relation of what he felt and saw on this occasion, 
in an animated letter which he wrote to Lady Spencer. 

To Lady Spencer . 

7th of Sept . 1769. 

The necessary trouble of correcting the first printed 
sheets of my history prevented me to-day from paying 
a proper respect to the memory of Shakespeare, by at¬ 
tending his jubilee. But I was resolved to do all the 
honour in my power to as great a poet, and set out in 
the morning, in company with a friend, to visit a place, 
where Milton spent some part of his life, and where, 
in ail probability, he composed several of his earliest 
productions. It is'a small village, situated on a plea-, 
sant hill, about three miles from Oxford, and called 
Forest Hill, because it formerly lay contiguous to a 
forest, which has since been cut down. 1 he poet chose 
this place of retirement after his first marriage, and he 
describes the beauties of his retreat in that fine passage 
of his L’Allegro: 

Sometime walking, not unseen, 

By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green. 
******* 

While the ploughman, near at hand, 

Whistles o’er the furrow’d land, 

And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 

And the mower whets his scythe ; 

And every shepherd tells his tale, 


69 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Under the hawthorn in the dale. 

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 

Whilst the landscape round it measures 
Russet lawns, aixj. fallows grey, 

Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 

Mountains, on whose barren breast, 

The lab’ring clouds do often rest; 

Meadows trim, with daisies pied, 

Shallow brooks, and rivers wide; 

Tow’rs and battlements it sees, 

Bosom’d high in tufted trees. 
****** 

Hard by a cottage-chimney smokes, 

From betwixt two aged oaks, &c. 

It was neither the proper season of the year, nor 
time of the day, to hear all the rural sounds, and see 
all the objects, mentioned in this description; but, by 
Nr a pleasing concurrence of circumstances, we were sa¬ 
luted, upon our approach to the village, with the music 
of the mower and his scythe; we saw the ploughman 
intent upon his labour, and the milkmaid returning 
from her country employment. 

As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful ob¬ 
jects, the agreeable stillness and natural simplicity of 
the whole scene, gave us the highest pleasure. We at 
length reached the spot, whence Milton, undoubtedly, 
took most of his images: it is on the top of the hill, 
from which there is a most extensive prospect, on all 
sides: the distant mountains that seemed to support 
the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly shaded with 
trees of the finest verdure, and partly raised above the 
groves that surrounded them, the dark plains and mea- 
dows of a greyish colour, where the sheep were feeding 
at large, in short, the view of the streams and rivers, 
convinced us that there was not a single useless or idle 
word in the above-mentioned description, but that it 
was a most exact and lively representation of nature. 


70 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Thus will this fine passage, which has always been 
admired for its elegance, receive an additional beauty 
from its exactness. After we had walked, with a kind 
of poetical enthusiasm, over this enchanted ground, we 
returned to the village. 

The poet’s' house was close to the church. The 
greatest part of it has been pulled down; and what 
remains belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed 
that several papers, in Milton’s own hand, were found, 
by the gentleman who was last in possession of the 
estate. The tradition of his having lived there is cur¬ 
rent among the villagers: one of them shewed us a ruin¬ 
ous wall, that made part of his chamber; and I was 
much pleased with another, who had forgotten the name 
of Milton, but recollected him by the title of the 
Poet. 

It must not be omitted that the groves near this vil¬ 
lage are famous for nightingales, which are so elegantly 
described in the Pensferoso. Most of the cottage-win¬ 
dows are overgrown with sweet-briars, vines, and ho- 
ney-sucldes; and, that Milton’s habitation had the same 
rustic ornament, w r e may conclude from his description 
of the lark bidding him good-morrow, 

Thro’ the sweet-briar, or the vine, 

Or the twisted eglantine : 

for it is evident, that lie meant a sort of honey-suckle 
by the eglantine, though that word is commonly used 
for the sweet-briar, which he could not mention twice 
in the same couplet. 

If I ever pass a month or six wrecks at Oxford in 
the summer, I shall be inclined to hire and repair this 
venerable mansion, and to make a festival for a circle 
of friends, in honour of Milton, the most perfect scholar,, 
as well as the sublimest poet, that our country ever 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


n 


produced. Such an honour will be less splendid, but 
more sincere and respectful, than all the pomp and 
ceremony on the banks of the Avon. 

I have the honour, &c. 

Towards the end of this year, Mr. Jones accompanied 
the family of Lord Spencer in a journey to the continent. 
I cannot better describe his occupations and reflections, 
during this excursion, than in his own words : 

* Mr. Jones to C . Reviczki. 

Nice , Feb . 4, 1770. 

The date of my letter will not fail to surprise you; 
for I do not write from the plains through which the 
Thames or Isis, so justly dear to me, glides, but from 
the foot of the Alps, and in front of the Ligurian sea. 

I have resided in this delightful little spot nearly three 
months. It was not possible, therefore, for me to re¬ 
ceive your two most acceptable letters, dated in Sep¬ 
tember and January, before my departure from England. 
I have read them with singular pleasure, to which their 
length did not a little contribute. You cannot conceive 
my anxiety to peruse your Treatise on the Military Art 
of the Turks: it is, I understand, deposited in Lord 
Spencer’s house in London; but I expect to receive a 
copy by the first vessel which sails from England for 
this port, and I will take care that the three remaining 
copies shall be safely and expeditiously delivered to 
your friends, and, if yours, mine also, although I do 
not even know them by sight. 

The approbation which your work has received in 
Germany delights, without suprising, me. It was first 
mentioned to me by a nobleman of that country, ap- 


Appendix, No, 11. 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


,72 

parently a man of taste and amiable manners, who holds, 
I believe, a public office at Milan; and he promised not 
only to send it to me, but to inform me of your health, 
and where to address you ; a promise which gave me the 
greatest satisfaction. For I suspected (forgive the in¬ 
justice of the suspicion) that I no longer retained a place 
in your remembrance, and in consequence despaired of 
hearing from you, unless I first wrote to you. In this 
suspense I received your two most welcome letters, with 
fourteen odes: they are not only worthy of the lyre, but 
the lyre to which they are sung ought to be of gold. I 
am, indeed, proud of your condescension in asking my 
opinion of them; as I can by no means think myself 
entitled to such an honour. I will, however, make my 
remarks upon them as well as I can, and return them to 
you when I receive an answer to this letter; for I should 
be sorry to trust such precious writings to the uncertain 
conveyance of the post. 

This letter will probably reach you in a fortnight ; 
and I beg you to gratify me by an early acknowledg¬ 
ment of it; for I assure you, with great truth, that 
nothing can give me more pleasure than a letter from 
you, however hasty. You, perhaps, wish to know how 
I employed my time after your departure from England : 
a short explanation will suffice. Amongst other occupa¬ 
tions, I revised and corrected my Commentaries on 
Oriental Poetry, and when I was preparing an accurate 
transcription of the manuscript for your perusal, I was 
unexpectedly interrupted by a business of more im¬ 
portance.* 

* ^ 

* The business here alluded to is the translation of the life of Nadir 
Shah, the circumstances of which have been already detailed, and are 
repeated in another letter ; the particular mention made of them in the 
letter before the reader, is, therefore, untranslated. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


7$ 


I had scarcely brought this work to a conclusion, 
when, in consequence of the sudden indisposition of the 
younger sister of my pupil, (who frequently talks of you) 
her hither determined to pass the winter with his family 
in Italy, or the South of France- I was, therefore, under 
the necessity of entrusting my history (as tide king of 
Denmark was anxious for its publication) to a French¬ 
man, upon whose accuracy I could depend, for correct¬ 
ing the errors of the press. I have just learned from 
him that the work is printed; and I will take care that 
not even his Danish majesty shall receive a copy of it 
before you. Having thus left England, we repaired to 
Paris, and after a tedious residence there, we proceeded 
with great rapidity by the Rhone to Lyons, and from 
that place continued our journey, by Marseilles, Frejus, 
and Antibes, to Nice. 

Where spring, in all her charms perpetual reigns, 

And banish’d winter flies the blooming plains. 

* 

Even here we shall remain longer than I wish; but I 
hope to return to England by the beginning of June. I 
propose, however, if I should have an opportunity, to 
cross the sea about the middle of this month, and visit 
Florence, (that celebrated colony of the triumviri, and 
the cradle of reviving literature) as well as Rome, (the 
nurse of all elegant arts) and perhaps Naples; but on 
this plan you shall hereafter know my determination. 
You may perhaps enquire, what are my occupations at 
this place. I will tell you, in few words; music, with 
all its sweetness and feeling; difficult and abstruse 
problems in mathematics; the beautiful and sublime 
in poetry and painting; these occupy all my senses and 
thoughts; nor do I neglect the study of the military art, 
^ which it would be the greatest disgrace to an English 
gentleman not to be acquainted \vitn. I have wiitten 

M 


Memoirs of the life of 


much in my native language, and amongst other things r 
a little Tract on Education, in the manner of Aristotle,, 
that is, the analytick manner. I have, moreover, begun 
a tragedy,, to which I have given the title of Soliman, 
whose most amiable son perished miserably,, as you 
know, by the treachery of a step-mother. The story is 
full of the most affecting incidents, and has more 
sublimity even than the tragedies of iEschylus, as it 
abounds with Oriental images. I send you translations 
of two odes, one from Hafez, the other from a very 
ancient Arabic poet; but I have adapted the images of 
the latter to the Roman manners, and I fill the remainder 
of the paper with a Greek epigram, in imitation of a 
little English song. Farewel; you shall have your 
papers as soon as I am informed that you have received 
this letter. 

* Mr. Jones to N. B . Hallied. 

Nice , March 1, 1770, 

I received your short lettter with great pleasure, as 
ft convinced me, that you were not insensible of my 
esteem for you, and such as resemble you. I wrote 
immediately to my friends, as you desired, most 
earnestly requesting them to promote your views, as 
if my own interest were concerned; if they accede to 
my wishes in this respect, they will oblige me and them¬ 
selves too; for, doubtless, I shall be ready to make 
them every return that I can. I think, however, that I 
shall have it in my power to serve you more effectually,, 
after my return to England; and I beg you to believe, 
that no inclination or efforts, on my part, shall ever be 
wanting to promote your wishes. 

tjL-ar Sj J J 

v * Appendix, No. 12*. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

My health is good; but I long for those enjoyments 
of which I know not well how to bear the privation. 
When I first arrived here, I was delighted with a 
variety of objects, rarely, if ever, seen in my own 
country;—olives, myrtles, pomegranates, palms, vine¬ 
yards, aromatic plants, and a surprising variety of the 
sweetest flowers, blooming in the midst of winter. But 
the attraction of novelty has ceased; I am now satiated, 
and begin to feel somewhat of disgust. The windows 
of our inn are scarcely thirty paces from the sea, and, as 
Ovid beautifully says— 

Tired on the uniform expanse I gaze.... 

I have, therefore,.no other resource than with Cicero 
to count the waves, or with Archimedes and Archytas 
to measure the sands. I cannot describe to you how 
weary I am of this place, nor my anxiety to be again at 
Oxford, where I might jest with you, or philosophize 
with Poore, If it be not inconvenient, I wish you would 
write to me often; for I long to know how you and our 
friends are; but write, if you please, in Latin, and with 
gaiety, for it grieves me to observe the uneasiness under 
which you appear to labour. Let me ever retain a place 
in your affection, as you do in mine; continue to culti¬ 
vate polite literature ; woo the muses ; reverence philo¬ 
sophy ; and give your days and nights to composition, 
with a due regard, however, to the preservation of your 
health. 

* Mr. Jones to C. Reinczki. 

^ Nice , April , 1770. 

It is impossible to describe my vexation at not 
hearing from you; and I can only conclude that you 

* Appendix, No. 13. 


76 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


have not received my letter of February, or, wliat 
w T ould be more unpleasant, that your letter has mis¬ 
carried, or finally, what I dread even to suspect, that I 
no longer retain a place in your remembrance. I have 
written to you from this place (not as Cicero says to 
Lucceius) a very fine epistle, but one that I cannot but 
think would be acceptable to you, because it was very 
long, and contained, besides, much information respect¬ 
ing myself. After a sufficient time for the receipt of an 
answer, which I most anxiously expected, I daily 
enquired if there were any letters from Vienna....none, 
none, was the reply, day after day. My anxiety and 
uneasiness at this disappointment daily encreased, and 
nearly two months are now elapsed without a line from 
you. What can I do? or what shall I devise? I fear to 
trust your papers, which you desired me to return, to a 
conveyance so hazardous as the post; although I am 
persuaded it will be inconvenient for you to be so long 
without them; but, although I cannot venture to send 
them before I hear from you, I enclose my remarks, 
which you may throw into the fire, if you do not like 
them....they are, as you seemed to wash, somewhat 
hypercritical, and perhaps too severe. 

Your Treatise on the Military Art of the Turks de¬ 
lighted me exceedingly ; nothing can be more useful 
or opportune. As I cannot depend upon this letter 
reaching you, I write but little, having no wish to talk 
to the winds, and risk the loss of time, which I can 
better employ. I expect to leave this town about the 
middle of the month. My proposed Italian expedition 
is deferred to a future period. Farewel, my Charles, 
and remember me, as I do you. After my return to 
England, I will write to you frequently, and my letters 
shall be longer and more chearful. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

* Mr. Jones to C. Reviczki....Date erased. 


77 


Although I cannot possibly receive an answer to 
my letter before I leave this place, I will not have to 
reproach myself for neglecting an opportunity of writ¬ 
ing to you. I concur most heartily in your sentiments 
on the pleasures of travelling, as on all other subjects; 
nothing, in my opinion, can be more useful or more 
delightful. How inuch more agreeable would my jour¬ 
ney be, if I could make Vienna a part of it, where I 
might enjoy your conversation, philosophize with you, 
trifle away an idle hour, or explore with you the hid¬ 
den treasures of poetry. As I am deprived of this 
happiness, I shall take the liberty of saying something 
not so favourable of the pleasures which I actually 
enjoy. I am disgusted with the odious rattle of French 
gaiety ; and the calm serenity of an Italian sky has 
something gloomy in it. I am so much in love with 
myself, i. e. so much beside myself, that, even in my 
own eyes, d appear more worthy of your friendship 
than ever. You cannot conceive how different I am 
from what you knew me in England. I was then young 
and thoughtless; now I devote myself wholly to polite 
literature; and the great objects of my ambition are 
virtue, fame, and above all, your friendship; objects 
than which nothing can be more divine, estimable, or 
dear to me. That I may not altogether write an un¬ 
lettered letter , I send you a Greek version of an English 
epigram. It was composed in a calm night, by a friend 
of mine, and I translated it at his request. I think it 
will please you; as it appears to have an affinity to the 
style of Meleager, and other poets in the Anthologia.t 

* Appendix, No. 14. 

f Sir William Jones’s Works, vol. ii. page 133.In the original, 

Mr. Jones indulges himself with a play on words, which cannot be imi¬ 
tated in the translation. 



MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


rs 

To Lady Spencer . 

Nice, April 14, 1770. 

It is with great pleasure, that I acquaint your 
Ladyship, that Mrs. Poyntz, Lady Harriet, and her 
brother are perfectly well; Mrs. Poyntz goes this 
morning to Villa Franca; I am to be her knight, and 
am just equipped to mount my Rozinante; Mademoi¬ 
selle Annette is to go upon Lady Mary Somerset’s ass; 
so we shall make a formidable procession. It is a de¬ 
lightful morning, and I hope Mrs. Poyntz will be 
pleased with her jaunt. We have had very bad weather, 
violent rains, and storms of thunder in the night, a close 
sultry heat all day, and a very sharp cold every even¬ 
ing; but the spring seems now to be pretty well settled; 
and I fancy we shall have a continually clear sky, and 
a mild air as long as we stay. We all promise our¬ 
selves great pleasure in our journey homewards; and 
we have great reason to believe it will be enchantingly 
pleasant. I have every day more and more reason to be 
pleased with the unfolding of my pupil’s disposition: 
your Ladyship will perhaps think these to be words of 
course, and what you might naturally expect from any 
other person in my situation; but, believe me, I say them 
upon no other motive than their truth; for if it were 
my nature to speak to any one what I do not think, I 
should at least speak truly to your Ladyship, of whom 
I am, with the greatest truth, 

The obliged and grateful humble servant, 

William Jones* 

To Lady Spencer . 

Paris , June 4, 1770. 

Your Ladyship wall be surprised at receiving such 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 7$ 

a parcel of papers from me; but I am willing to make 
amends for not writing all last month. The truth is, I 
had nothing particular to say at that time; but, on my 
arrival at Paris, I found a letter from my friend Re- 
viczki, with a very spirited ode composed by him upon 
the marriage of the arch-duchess. I dare say Lord 
Spencer will like it, and I, therefore, take the liberty to 
enclose it for him. I have marked in this manner o two 
or three passages that are faulty; and I have put this 
sign - 7 - to one stanza that I do not quite understand. 
I have also sent with it the baron’s letter to me, which 
will serve as a comment upon many parts of the ode. 
You will have heard of the shocking accidents that hap¬ 
pened here the night of the fire-works. Above one 
hundred and thirty people were killed; and several 
people of fashion were crushed to death in their car¬ 
riages. We had the good fortune to arrive here two 
days after this dreadful catastrophe, which, perhaps, 
has saved some of us, if not from real danger, at least 
from the apprehension of it. We shall not be sorry to 
see England again, and hope to have that pleasure very 
soon. Soon after my return I think of going to Oxford 
for a short time: but if Lord Althorpe goes back to 
school this summer, as I sincerely hope he will, I shall 
not go to college till August; for I am convinced that 
a public school has already been, and will continue to 
be, of the highest advantage to him, in every respect. 
While Mrs. Poyntz staid at Lyons, I made an excur¬ 
sion to Geneva, in hopes of seeing Voltaire, but was 
disappointed. I sent him a note, with a few verses, 
implying that the muse of tragedy had left her ancient 
seat in Greece and Italy, and had fixed her abode on 
the borders of a lake, &c. He returned this answer: 

The worst of French poets and philosophers is almost 
u dying; age and sickness have brought him to his 


80 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


“ last day; he can converse with nobody, and entreats 
“ Mr. Jones to excuse and pity him. He presents 

him with his humble respects.” But he was not so 
ill as he imagined; for he had been walking in his court, 
and went into his house just as I came to it. The 
servants shewed me somebody at a window, who they 
said was he; but I had scarce a glimpse of him. I am 
inclined to think that Voltaire begins to be rather seri¬ 
ous, when he finds himself upon the brink of eternity; 
and that he refuses to see company, because he cannot 
display his former wit and sprightliness. I find my 
book is published;* I am not at all solicitous about its 
success. As I did not chuse the subject myself, I am 
not answerable for the wild extravagance of the style, 
nor for the faults of the original; but if your Lady¬ 
ship takes the trouble to read the dissertation at the 
end, you may, perhaps, find some new and pleasing 
images. The work has one advantage, it is certainly 
authentic. Lady Georgiana is so good as to enquire 
how Soiiman goes on; pray tell her he is in great afflic¬ 
tion, as he begins to suspect the innocence of Mustafa, 
who is just slain. To be serious, my tragedy is just 
finished; and I hope to shew it to your Ladyship in a 
short time. 

I am, &c. William Jones. 

De la Fontaine is with us; he seems very well, but 
is still weak and complaining. I must add a little stroke 
of French courage, which I have just heard. In the 
midst of all the disasters of the fire-works, the Mares- 
chal de Richelieu was in such a panic, that he got out 
of his carriage, and screamed out, Est-ce qu’on veut 
laisser perir un Maresclial de France? N’y a-t-il per- 


* Translation of the Life of Nadir Shah. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 81 

sonne pour secourir un Mareschal de France?....This 
will be an eternal joke against him!.... 

* Mr. Jones to C . Reviczki. 

Spa, July , 1770. 

What an idle, unsettled fellow, I am! I fly over 
Europe, scarcely stopping any where. We passed the 
winter at Nice, enjoyed the spring in France, and I am 
now spending the summer (if this rainy season may be 
so called) on the borders of Germany. 1 certainly can, 
without any risk, send your manuscripts from this place; 
and I advise you, by all means, to publish them. They 
are worthy of your acknowledged talents, and will en¬ 
sure you the applause of all the learned. I say this 
without flattery, which is, indeed, foreign to my charac¬ 
ter. The criticisms which I sent to you are full of 
errors, and you must receive them with great allow¬ 
ance ; for, during my residence at Nice, I was wholly 
without ancient books, or other aids, to which I am in 
the habit of applying; nor do I now possess them. 

I have received your French letter, with an incom¬ 
parable ode. I was particularly charmed with that happy 
transition in it: . 

O’er kindred, or o’er friendship’s bier, 

Affection pours the transient tear,... 

Soon flies the cloud: the solar rays 
Disperse the gloom, and brighter blaze. 

Believe me, when I read these lines, I could scarcely 
restrain my tears; for nature has that power over me, 
that I am more affected by the beauties of a tender sim¬ 
plicity, than by the loftiest figure of poetry; and hence 
I am more delighted with a passage in the first Pythian 


Appendix, No. 15 . 




m MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

ode of the divine Pindar, concerning the Muses, than 
by his elaborate description of the Eagle and iEtna.* 
What shall 1 send in return for your present ? Accept 
the accompanying ode, which is, at least, valuable for 
its antiquity. You will perhaps smile: it is not an 
epithalamium on the marriage of Antoinette the dauphi- 
Uess, but contains the eulogium of a very ancient Chinese 
monarch, whose name, though a monosyllable only, I 
have forgotten. When I read the works of Confucius, 
translated by Couplet and others, I was struck with 
admiration at the venerable dignity of the sentiments, 
as w^ell as at the poetical fragments, which adorn the 
discourses of that philosopher. They are selected from 
the most ancient records of Chinese poetry, and parti¬ 
cularly from a work, entitled Shi-king, of which there 
is a fine copy in the royal library at Paris. I imme¬ 
diately determined to examine the original, and, refer¬ 
ring to the volume, after a long study, I succeeded in 
comparing one of the odes with the version of Couplet, 
and analysed every word, or, more properly, every 
figure in it. Of this ode, I now send you a literal trans¬ 
lation:! it is a composition of wonderful dignity and 
brevity; each verse contains four words only; hence the 
ellipsis is frequent in it, and the obscurity of the style 
adds to its sublimity. I have annexed a poetical version, 
making every verse correspond with the sense of Con¬ 
fucius; you will judge whether I have succeeded, or 
not; it will be sufficient for me, if it please you. You 
know that this philosopher, whom I may venture to call 
the Plato of China, lived about six hundred years before 

* But they on earth, or the devouring main, 

Whom righteous Jove with detestation views, 

With envious horror hear the heav’nly strain, 

Exil’d from praise, from virtue, and the muse. 

West’s Translation* 

f Sir William Jones’s Works, vol. ii. p, 351 . 


S3 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

the Christian sera; and he quotes this ode, as very 
ancient in his time. It may, therefore, be considered as 
a most precious gem of antiquity, which proves, that 
poetry has been the admiration of ail people, in all ages, 
and that it every where adopts the same images. I must 
say a few words upon another work, lest my long letter 
of February, containing a particular account of it from 
first to last, should have miscarried. I allude to the 
translation of the life of Nadir Shah, from Persian into 
French, a most disagreeable task, which I undertook at 
the request of my Augustus, the king of Denmark, who, 
I doubt not, will verify the high expectations entertained 
of him in Europe. It was his special injunction, that 
the translation should be strictly literal, that I should 
supply such notes as might be necessary, and finally, that 
I should add a short dissertation on the poetry of the 
Persians. 1 finished this tiresome work, to the best of 
my ability, and with such expedition, in compliance 
with the importunities of his majesty, that the whole 
book, and more particularly the dissertation, is full of 
errors. In the latter I ventured to insert a translation of 
ten odes of Hafez, from a very splendid, but incorrect, 
manuscript, and without the aid of any commentary. I 
have written to the under secretary of state, requesting 
him to send you a copy of it as expeditiously as pos¬ 
sible : and I trust he will not disappoint me. Excuse 
those errors, which I could not perhaps have avoided, if 
I had possessed the greatest leisure, and which the total 
want of it made almost inevitable. Excuse, also, the 
insertion of the two odes, which you sent to me with a 
French translation only; and lastly, I must beg your 
excuse for the liberty, which I could not avoid taking, 
of mentioning my friend; for I could not resist the 
desire of letting the king know, how highly I valued 
you. You will greatly add to the other proofs I have 


84 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


experienced of your kindness towards me, by noticing 
the errors of the work, and particularly of the disserta¬ 
tion, which I mean to publish in a separate volume. 

The king of Denmark, as I am informed, approves 
my work much, and has some honours in view for me; 
but of* what nature I know not. When he was consider¬ 
ing what recompense he should bestow upon me, a noble 
friend of mine informed his majesty, that I neither 
wished for, nor valued, money; but was anxious only 
for some honorary mark of his approbation. 

I have directed a copy of your Treatise on the 
Military Art of the Turks, to be sent to his majesty, 
because it is worthy his perusal, and because you are 
the author of it. Do not suppose that I now conclude, 
because I have nothing more to say; my mind, in truth, 
overflows with matter, and I have more difficulty in 
restraining my pen, than to find topics for writing. 
But I will not abuse and exhaust your patience with 
my loquacity. For my sake, take care of your health. 

* C. ReViczki to Mr . Jones. 

Vienna , August 9, 1770. 

Indeed, my dear Sir, I cannot think you much to 
be pitied, for having past a year in travelling through 
various climates and regions; on the contrary, I think 
it extremely fortunate that you have had an opportunity 
which you are well qualified to improve. You have 
escaped the severity of winter, in the mild and temperate 
climate of Italy; you have enjoyed the spring in France 
and England; and you are now spending the summer 
on the confines of Germany, in a place, which is the 
general rendezvous of Europe; and where you may 


Appendix. No. 16. 


85 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

see, at a glance, an assemblage of various nations. Is 
not this delightful? Is not the great advantage of 
travelling, to explore the characters of different people ? 
I can, however, easily conceive the inconvenience which 
a man of letters must suffer from the want of means and 
opportunity to pursue his studies; and this alone is 
sufficient to diminish the pleasure of it. 

I am exceedingly obliged to you for the extraordinary 
composition with which you favoured me; it is, indeed, 
a literary curiosity. But pray inform me when you 
learned the Chinese language: I did not suspect that 
this was one of your accomplishments; but there are 
no bounds to your acquisitions as a linguist. I am the 
more delighted with this little performance, as I can 
rely upon it as a faithful translation from the Chinese 
language, of which the few things we have translated 
appear very suspicious; it has not only the merit of 
being very ancient, but, in your version, appears even 
elegant. I impatiently expect your life of Nadir Shah ; 
and I beg you to accept my thanks for your attention in 
requesting the under-secretary of state to forward a copy 
of it to me; nor am I less anxious to peruse the essay, 
which you haye annexed to it, on Oriental poetry. I 
admire your condescension in submitting this work to 
my criticism; you must be sensible that you incur little 
risk by it, and that you are sure of my approbation. I 
shall, however, be obliged to point out one fault, which 
is no trifle....your mentioning me, in such honourable 
terms. I have no claim to this distinction; although, if 
1 had foreseen your intention, I would have at least 
exerted myself to deserve it. There are several of our 
Vienna ladies and gentlemen now at Spa, who are all well 
worthy of your acquaintance. I am informed that lady 
Spencer is an'intimate friend of the princess Ezterhazy; 
she can introduce you to the acquaintance of an amiable 


86 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


and respectable lady, who knows how to estimate the 
value of persons of merit. I have nothing at present 
worth troubling you with. I reserve this pleasure for a 
future opportunity, and in the mean time am, with great 
respect and veneration, 

Your very humble servant, 

Reviczki. 

* C. Reviczki to Mr . Jones. 

Vienna , Oct . 16, 1770. 

Although your last letter gives me no information 
of your intended destination, after your departure from 
Spa, I conclude, from your very silence, that you are 
now in London. This opinion is confirmed by the late 
receipt of your letter. I was deprived of the pleasure of 
hearing from you during my excursion into Hungary; 
nor did your letter reach me till after my return to 
Vienna, long subsequent to its date, and when the 
subject of it was in fact obsolete. Most sincerely do I 
hope that your wishes may be gratified, and that, after 
so much travelling, I may have the pleasure of seeing 
you at Vienna. 

The French are light and frivolous, the Italians 
effeminate and enervate, and the Germans may perhaps 
be dull and morose; yet they are not on this account to 
be despised; for, if nature has not endowed them with 
the more elegant qualities, they possess what is more 
valuable, and win the affection of strangers by plain 
dealing and simplicity of manners. 

I give this testimony to the character of the Germans, 
without partiality; for I am as much a stranger in Ger¬ 
many as I lately was in England; and no one, at all 


Appendix, No. 17. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES, 


87 


acquainted with the character and country of the 
Germans and Hungarians, can possibly consider them 
the same, for they are not only dissimilar in disposition, 
language, and manners, but in their very nature. I will 
not, however, dissemble, but candidly confess the truth, 
that my way of life here is extremely pleasant; nor have 
I any doubt that you, who are so accurate a judge of 
mankind, will one day readily subscribe to my opinion 
of this nation. 

I smile at your declaration that you are changed, and 
that you hope to be more agreeable to me, from having 
renounced youthful gratifications, and devoted yourself 
to the cultivation of literature and the pursuit of virtue; 
for my own part, I only wish to find you again precisely 
the same as when I knew and admired you in England, 
faultless and irreproachable. I confess, indeed, that 
what I particularly valued in you was the happy talent 
of blending pleasure and recreation with the most in¬ 
tense study and thirst for literature. 

Take care, however, that you do not suffer the ardour 
of application to deprive you of the gratifications of life, 
sufficiently brief in their own nature; they are, indeed, 
so connected with, literature, that the wise and the 
learned only are qualified for the true enjoyment of 
them. Take care, also, that you have not hereafter 
reason to complain, in the w T ords of Horace: 

Ah! v/hy....while slighted joys I vainly mourn, 

Why will not youth, with youthful thoughts, return ? 

The chastity of the muses, and their enmity to Venus, 
is a mere fable adapted to fiction; for poetry delights to 
repose on downy pillows . I now turn to another subject. 
I have not yet received your translation of the Persian 
manuscript which you promised me, and which, indeed, 


88 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


you seem to have sent, what has delayed its arrival I 
know not, and will trouble you to enquire about it. 

I have read, again and again, the beautiful English 
song, with your elegant translation of it in two lan¬ 
guages, and I am delighted with it. I wonder, how¬ 
ever, that you are so little satisfied with the Latin ver¬ 
sion of it, with which I am highly pleased. 

****** 

The last letter was received by Mr. Jones, after his 
return tq England. It may be regretted that his corre¬ 
spondence, during his excursion to the continent, should 
have been chiefly confined to literary topics, and that 
his letters contain no observations of a particular nature, 
on the characters and manners of the French, Italians, 
and Germans, amonst whom he so long resided. They 
exhibit, however, what may be more interesting to 
those who are anxious to explore his mind and feelings, 
an undisguised picture of them; and, for this reason, I 
more particularly regret that so few of his letters should 
have been preserved. The account which he gives of 
his success in decyphering an ode of Confucius, is a re¬ 
markable proof of his ardour for universal literature, 
and of his invincible application in the pursuit of it. 
He had before acquired the keys of the Chinese language, 
andhaving accidentally discovered, through the medium 
of an inelegant translation, a treasure locked up in it, 
he applies them skilfully, and, with great perseverance, 
obtains access to it. 

# Nothing remains of the Treatise on Education, men¬ 
tioned by Mr. Jones, except the plan; as it is short, I 
piesent it to the reader in this place. He will probably 
regret with me, that the Treatise, if it ever were com¬ 
pleted, no longer exists. In the culture of his own 
talents, Mr. Jones appears strictly to have pursued the 


89 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

objects which he points out as the end of education in 
general, and to have attempted the attainment of them, 
by the means which he recommends to others. This 
little sketch was written In his twenty-third year. 

PLAN OF AN ESSAY ON EDUCATION. 

A celebrated Eastern philosopher begins his first dis¬ 
sertation with the following period. The perfect edu¬ 
cation of a great man consists in three points; in culti¬ 
vating and improving his understanding, in assisting 
and reforming his countrymen, and in procuring to 
himself the chief good, or a fixed and unalterable habit 
of virtue. 

I have chosen the words of this sublime author, as 
my subject for a series of essays, in which I design to 
discourse on education in its fullest extent, tracing it 
from its beginning with the elementary parts of lan¬ 
guage, to the great end proposed by it; that is, the 
ability to benefit mankind and ourselves, either in vrar 
or in peace, by action or by speculation. I shall, how¬ 
ever, make a slight deviation from the definition of the 
philosopher, by fixing the good of ourselves and our 
fellow-creatures, as the primary end proposed by a 
liberal education; and by considering the cultivation of 
our understanding, and the acquisition of knowledge, 
as the secondary objects of it. For knowledge must 
certainly be acquired before it can be conveyed to 
others; the consequence of actions must be known, be¬ 
fore the good can be selected from the evil; and the 
mind must be enlightened by an improvement of our 
natural reason, before a proper distinction can be made 
between the real and the apparent good. Now, as neither 
this knowledge can be perfectly obtained, nor the rea¬ 
son completely improved, in the short duration of hu¬ 
man life, unless the accumulated experience and wisdom 
of all ages and all nations be added to that which we cam 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


90 

gain by our own researches, it is necessary to understand 
the languages of those people who have been, in any 
period of the world, distinguished for their superior 
knowledge; and that our own attainments may be made 
generally beneficial, we must be able to convey them 
to other nations , either in their respective dialects, or 
in some language, which, from its peculiar excellence 
and utility, may be in a manner universal. It follows, 
therefore, that the more immediate object of education 
is, to learn the languages of celebrated nations, both 
ancient and modern. But as these cannot, consistently 
with reason and propriety, be taught before our native 
tongue, our first step must be to make ourselves per¬ 
fect masters of the language of the country in which 
we are born. 

In consequence of this analysis, I intend to distri¬ 
bute my dissertation into several distinct treatises on 
language , on the understanding , on knowledge , on the 
good of mankind , and on the good of ourselves , or private¬ 
happiness. 

But there are other acquisitions which must go, as 
it were, hand in hand with those above mentioned. I 
mean these which refresh and enliven the mind, and 
those which improve and adorn the body. For as the 
human mind, by reason of its earthly impediments, 
cannot at all times support, with equal advantage, its 
attention to abstracted subjects, but requires many in¬ 
tervals of relaxation, it is necessary that some state be 
found between labour and rest, to prevent the faculties 
from lying totally inactive. Hence proceeds the use 
of polite literature, and of the liberal arts, of poetry, of 
painting, and of music, which relieve the mind after 
any violent exertion of its powers, and prepare it for 
the reception of fresh knowledge, with greater alacrity: 
and as the mind can neither attend to instruction, nor 
receive refreshment, unless the body enjoy, at least, a 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


@1 

moderate share of health, these exercises are essential! j 
necessary, which tend to procure or preserve it, and 
which have the double advantage of strengthening the 
constitution, by promoting a free and regular circula¬ 
tion, and of giving grace to the body, by forming it to 
easy and elegant motions. Hence arises the great ad¬ 
vantage of manly sports, of dancing, of swimming, of 
managing the horse, and of using every sort of weapon; 
to which must be added, the habit of declaiming with 
an oratorial voice and gesture, an exercise by no means 
general, but perhaps more useful and more ornamental 
than any of the others. Consistently with this division 
of necessary accomplishments, I shall add two dikp 
courses, on the polite arts, and on exercise. 

******* 

From the terms in which Mr. Jones speaks of the 
tragedy of Soliman, in one of his letters, it appears, 
that he was considerably advanced towards its comple¬ 
tion ; and from the mention which he afterwards makes 
of it, in another to Reviczki, it would seem that it was 
actually finished; but I have in vain attempted to dis¬ 
cover any traces of it. The preface to Soliman, written 
by Mr. Jones, has been communicated to me, but does 
not appear sufficiently correct for publication. He 
notices in it the custom of poets to send abroad 
their pieces with prefatory discourses, calculated to 
mislead the taste or judgment of their reader; and 
exemplifies the remark, by reference to Dry den, La 
Motte, and Corneille,. Of Dryden he observes, that 
having composed tragedies in rhyme, he thought it 
necessary to prepare the public for so novel an attempt, 
by telling them, in his advertisements, that every 
tragedy should be written in rhyme; that La Motte 
purposely violated the unities of the cuama, while 


92 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Corneille preserved them with an exactness approach¬ 
ing to affectation; and that each endeavoured, in a pre¬ 
fatory discourse, to prove himself alone in the right.... 
He'disciaims all idea of imitating a conduct, which he 
pronounces absurd and useless, and contents himself 
with a few hints on the principles which had directed 
him in the composition of the tragedy. 

The object of theatrical representation, he remarks, 
is to convey pleasure, and the hope of receiving it is 
the inducement which carries people to the theatre; 
observing that Shakespeare delights and transports him, 
while Corneille lulls him to sleep; and, judging of the 
feelings of others by his own, he concludes, that all 
who understand both authors, perfectly, must be affect¬ 
ed in the same manner. He determines, therefore,, to 
take Shakespeare for his model, not by adopting his 
sentiments, or borrowing his expressions, but by aim¬ 
ing at his manner, and by striving to write as he sup¬ 
poses he would have written himself, if he had lived in 
the eighteenth century. 

Mustapha, upon whose story the tragedy was found¬ 
ed, was put to death by his father, Soliman the Magni¬ 
ficent, about the year 1553. The history of this unna¬ 
tural murder is pathetically related by Knolles, in his* 
General History of the Turks, who styles Mustapha 
“ the mirror of courtesie, and rare hope of the Turkish 
“ nation.” In the representation of his tragedy, Mr. 
Jones intended to observe closely the costume of the 
Turks, which he had attentively studied. 

Mr. Jones now determined to enter upon a new 
career of life. Whatever satisfaction he might derive 
from his connection with the noble family, in which he 
had undertaken the office of tutor, or whatever recom¬ 
pense he might ultimately hope to receive from their 
gratitude or friendship, the situation did not altogether 


93 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

correspond with his feelings, nor the extent of his views. 
To a spirit of independence, which, from his earliest 
years, strongly marked his character, he united the 
laudable desire of acquiring public distinction, and of 
making his fortune by his own efforts; above all, he 
was animated with the noble ambition of being useful 
to his country. In the capacity of private tutor, his 
expectations were bounded by a narrow prospect, and 
his exertions circumscribed: whilst, in the profession 
of the law, he saw an ample scope for the gratification 
of all his wishes; and from his extensive knowledge, 
studious habits, and indefatigable industry, he had 
every reason to expect the most brilliant success. The 
advice and importunity of his friends confirmed the sug¬ 
gestions of his own reflection, and he resolved to resign 
his charge in Lord Spencer’s family, and to devote 
himself in future to the study and practice of the law. 
In consequence of this determination, whicfi he imme¬ 
diately executed, he was admitted into the Temple, on 
the nineteenth of September, 1770. 

His attention, however, was not at first exclusively 
confined to his professional studies, nor was it, indeed, 
to be expected that he would, at once, renounce his 
attachment to Oriental learning, and literature in general. 
It would have required more than ordinary resolution, to 
abandon, at once, what had cost him so much pains to 
acquire; the attainment of which had been the source 
both of pleasure and distinction to him. But as his letters 
and those of his friends, during the two following years, 
contain all that I can say of him, I refer the reader to 
them for information, rather than to a narrative of my 


own. 


94 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


* Mr. Jones to C. Reviczki. 

March , 1771. 

A plague on our men in office, who for six months 
have amused me with idle promises, which I see no 
prospect of their fulfilling, that they would forward my 
books and a letter to you. They say, that they have not 
yet had an opportunity; and that the apprehension of a 
Spanish war (which is now no more) furnishes them 
with incessant occupation. I have, however, so much 
to say to you, that I can no longer delay writing. I 
wish, indeed, I could communicate it in person. On 
my late return to England, I found myself entangled, 
as it were, in a variety of important considerations. My 
friends, companions, relations, all attacked me with 
urgent solicitations to banish poetry and Oriental litera¬ 
ture for a time, and apply myself to oratory and the 
study of the law; in other words, to become a barrister, 
and pursue the track of ambition. Their advice, in 
truth, was conformable to my own inclinations; for the 
only road to the highest stations in this country is that 
of the law; and I need not add, how ambitious and 
laborious I arn. Behold me, then, become a lawyer, 
and expect, in future, that my correspondence will have 
somewhat more of public business in it. But if it ever 
should be my fortune to have any share in adminis¬ 
tration, you shall be my Atticus, the partner of my 
plans, the confidant of my secrets. Do not, however, 
suppose that I have altogether renounced polite litera¬ 
ture. I mean shortly to publish my English poems, 
and I intend to bring my tragedy of Soliman on the 
stage, when I can find proper actors for the performance 
of it. I intend, also, composing an epic poem, on a 


* Appendix, No. 18. 


9 5 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

noble subject, under the title of Rritanneis; but this I 
must defer until I have more leisure, with some degree 
of independence. In the mean time I amuse myself 
with the choicest of the Persian poets; and I have the 
good fortune to possess many manuscripts, which I have 
either purchased or borrowed from my friends, on 
various subjects, including history, philosophy, and 
some of the most celebrated poetry of Persia. 

I am highly delighted with Jami’s poem of Yusef 
and Zuleika. It contains somewhat more than four 
thousand couplets, each of which is a star of the first 
brilliance. We have six copies of this work at Oxford, 
one of which is correct; it has the vowel points, and is 
illustrated with the notes of Golius. I also possess a 
copy, which, as soon as I have leisure, I will print. 
Let me ask, in the mean time, how you are employed? 
Do you continue your occupation of elucidating your 
favourite Hafez ? I will most willingly give ail the 
assistance in my power to the publication of your work, 
if you will have it printed in London; but I scarcely 
think that any printer will undertake it at his own 
expense, unless the poems are accompanied with an 
English or French translation; for you cannot conceive 
how few English gentlemen understand Latin. Let me 
recommend to you, therefore, to give a literal version 
of Hafez in French, with annotations in the same 
language; and this, I think, will be more acceptable, 
even to your own countrymen, than a Latin translation, 
though indeed you may annex to your work such odes 
as you have translated into that language. The new 
edition of Meninski goes on tolerably well; I enclose 
a specimen of the new Arabic types, and earnestly beg 
your opinion upon them, that any defects may be cor¬ 
rected as soon as possible. I have had a copper-plate 
engraving made of one of the odes of Hafez, and may, 


96 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


perhaps, when my circumstances afford it, print an 
edition of Jami’s whole poem in the same manner.... 

A work of this kind, on Chinese paper, would, I doubt 
not, be very acceptable to the governor of Bengal, and 
the other principal persons in India. I cannot conceive 
what is become' of the book which I sent to you ; but 
I will take the first opportunity of transmitting a fairer 
and more correct copy, together with the little Treatise 
on the Literature of Asia, and my Grammar of the 
Persian Language, which is printed with some degree 
of elegance ; and I earnestly entreat you to tell me, if 
any thing is wrong in it, or any thing omitted, that the 
next edition may be more perfect. I only wait for 
leisure to publish my Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry. 

Do not, however, imagine that I despise the usual h 

enjoyments of youth ; no one can take more delight in J 

singing and dancing than I do, nor in the moderate use ( ^ 
of wine, nor in the exquisite beauty of the ladies, of J 
whom London affords an enchanting variety ; but I J 
prefer glory, my supreme delight, to all other gratifica¬ 
tions ; and I will pursue it through fire and water, by *L 
day and by night. Oh ! my Charles, (for I renounce 
all ceremony, and address you with ancient simplicity) 
what a boundless scene opens to my view! if I had 
two lives, I should scarcely find time for the due 
execution of all the public and private projects which 
I have in mind. 

Mr. Bates to IV. Jones , Esq. 

Sir, March 27, 1771. 

Last night I received from Mr. Williams your 
most ingenious and satisfactory letter, for which my 
heartiest thanks are due. If you have no objection to 
it, as 1 think you cannot, I propose to embellish my 




SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


9 7 


MS. with it, by sticking it into the book, in like manner 
as I have done my own account of it. It will be no 
small addition to the curiosity of the book; for I can 
easily foresee that, in times to come, a piece of your 
hand-writing will be looked upon as a curiosity' by 
virtuosi yet unborn. 

In the mean time, I hope this letter does not preclude 
your fulfilling your promise of obliging me with another 
visit (and I hope still more) after your return from 
Oxford, at the end of the holidays. I assure you, I wait 
for the end of those holidays as impatiently as most 
school-boys dread and abhor it. Therefore, I beg you 
would favour me with a line, to apprise me of your 
return back to town, that in case I should, in the dialect 
of Deptford, be moored head and stern by the gout, I 
may let you know as much, to save you the trouble of 
a visit, that will answer no end ; but if I keep clear 
from that malady, as I am at present, I shall beg you 
to take a night-cap here, that we may spend one entire 
morning in Oriental speculation, without the interrup¬ 
tion of other company. For I have still many queries, 
which you must resolve. I heartily wish you a pleasant 
journey ; and hope that, for the good of the literati, 
you’ll be blessed with life and health to go on with the 
noble undertaking you are engaged in, and that you’ll 
meet with the merited success. 

I am, Sir, &c. 

James Bates, 

* Mr. Jones to D. B. 

London , April , 1771. 

Your Persian book is more valuable than the cost¬ 
liest jewel. Meninski, that universal scholar, has a copy 

* Appendix, No. 19. 

£ 


98 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


exactly like yours; and he describes it in his usual 
manner, that is, inelegantly, and in miserable Latin, 
From his description, you may, however, estimate the 
real excellence of your book. I shall beg leave to say 
something more about it myself, and, as a poet’, venture 
to affirm, that the six' most beautiful poems in the 
volume are far more valuable, for their intrinsic merit, 
than for the elegance of the characters in which they 
are written, or for the glowing tints of the pictures 
which adorn them.. 

The autbbr of these poems was the very celebrated 
Nezami, who assumed the name of Kenjavi. He flourish¬ 
ed towards the close of the twelfth century, and was the 
favourite of that illustrious warrior, and patron of lite¬ 
rature,, Togrul, the son of Erslan. 

The book comprises five poems, the last of which is 
divided into two parts; the first, which is entitled The 
Treasury of Secrets , contains many fables, and various 
discourses on moral duties and human affairs. Nushi- 
rovan, king of Persia, who, towards the end of the sixth 
century, waged a successful war against the first Justin 
and Justinian, is frequently introduced in it. Mahom- 
medj.tlie legislator of Arabia, was born during his reign, 
and praises him for his justice in the Coran. The Per¬ 
sian poets, Sadi, Hafez, Jami, and others, frequently ex¬ 
tol his virtues, and one of them has this couplet: 

For ages, mingled with his parent dust, 

Fame still records Nushirovan the Just. 

The second poem commemorates the lives of a most 
amiable youth (named Mujnoon, or the Frantic, from 
his mad passion), and his mistress, the beautiful Leili. 
The loves of Khosro and the adorable Sherin, form the 
subject of the third poem. Khosro was the twenty- 
third in descent from Sassan, and the grandson of Nu- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 99 

shirovan. The fourth poem has the title of The Seven 
Figures , and recites the history of king Beharam, whom 
the Greeks, with their usual inaccuracy, call Varanes: 
but it more particularly describes his seven palaces; 
each of which is said to have been distinguished by a 
particular colour. In the fifth, we have the life and ac¬ 
tions of Alexander: it is, however, to be remarked, that 
the Asiatics perpetually confound the Macedonian mo¬ 
narch with another, and very ancient, king, of the same 
name, and blend their actions most ridiculously. Thus 
much about your book; and you may depend upon what 
I say, as certain, and not conjectural. I sincerely rejoice 
that St. John’s college, at Cambridge, will possess this 
treasure, by your gift; and I no less sincerely hope, 
that your own university will boast some future scholar, 
capable of thoroughly understanding the elegance of the 
charming Nezami. If any one wishes to obtain further 
information respecting this poet, let him consult the 
pleasing work of Dowlat Shah of Samercand, on the 
lives of the Persian poets. I saw a beautiful manuscript 
of it at Paris....Farewel. 

Mr. Jones to J, Wilmot , Esq, 

Univ. Col, Oxford , June 3, 177L. 

MY DEAR WILMOT, 

It makes me very happy to hear that my lord 
chief justice does not retire on account of ill health, 
but from a motive which does him the highest honour. 
He will now enjoy the greatest happiness of human life., 
ease with dignity, after having passed through the most 
honourable labour without danger. I should think my¬ 
self highly blessed, if I could pursue a similar course 
in my small sphere, and after having raised a compe- 


100 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


tency at the bar, could retire to the bowers of learning 
and the arts. 

I have just begun to contemplate the stately edifice 
of the laws of England.... 

“ The gather’d wisdom-of a thousand years”.... 

if you will allow me to parody a line of Pope. I do 
not see why the study of the law is called dry and un¬ 
pleasant; and I very much suspect that it seems so to 
those only, who would think any study unpleasant, 
which required great application of the mind and exer¬ 
tion of the memory. I have read, most attentively, the 
two first volumes of Blackstone’s Commentaries, and 
the two others will require much less attention. I am 
much pleased with the care he takes to quote his autho¬ 
rities in the margin, which not only givey a sanction to 
what he asserts, but points out the sources to which.the 
student may apply for more diffusive knowledge. I 
have opened two common-place books, the one of the 
law, the other of oratory, which is surely too much neg¬ 
lected by our modern speakers. I do not mean the 
popular eloquence, which cannot be tolerated at the bar, 
but that correctness of style, and elegance of method, 
which at once pleases and persuades the hearer. But I 
must lay aside my studies for about six weeks, while I 
am printing my grammar, from which a good deal is 
expected; and which I must endeavour to make as per¬ 
fect as a human work can be. When that is finished, 
I shall attend the Court of King’s Bench very constantly, 
and shall either take a lodging in Westminster, or ac¬ 
cept the invitation of a friend, in Duke Street, who has 
made jne an obliging offer of apartments. 

I am sorry the characters you sent me are not Persian, 
but Chinese, which I cannot decypher without a book, 


101 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

which I have ndt at present, but, tous Chinois qu’ils 
sont, I shall be able to make them out, when the wea¬ 
ther will permit me to sit in the Bodleian. In the mean 
time, I would advise you to enquire after a native of 
China, who is now in London. I cannot recollect where 
he lodges, but shall know when I come to town, which 
will be to-morrow or Saturday. I shall be at Richard¬ 
son’s till my grammar is finished, unless I can buy a 
set of chambers in the temple, which I fear will be dif¬ 
ficult. I will certainly call upon you in a day or two. 
On one of the Indian pictures, at your house, there was 
a beautiful copy of Persian verses, which I will beg 
leave to transcribe, and should be glad to print it, with 
a translation, in the appendix to my grammar. I have 
not yet had my Persian proposals engraved, but when 
you write to your brother, you would much oblige me 
by desiring him to send me a little Persian manuscript, 
if he can procure it without much trouble. It is a small 
poem, which I intend to print; we have six or seven 
copies of it at Oxford; but if I had one in my posses¬ 
sion, it would save me the trouble of transcribing it. 
I have enclosed its title in Persian and English. I am 
very glad that your family are well. I wish them joy 
upon every occasion; my mother and sister desire their 
compliments to you, and I am, with great regard, 
Yours, most affectionately, 

William Jones. 

Mr. Jones to Mr, Hawkins. 

Nov. 5, 1771. 

I shall ever gratefully acknowledge, dear Sir, my 
obligation to you for the trouble you take in inspecting 
my trifles. Had Dry den and other poets, met with such 
a friend, their poems would have been more polished, 
and consequently more fit to see the light. Your 


1.02 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


observations are so judicious, that I wish you had not 
been so sparing of them. I entirely approve of all jour 
corrections, &x. 

As to the years, in which the poems were written, 
they are certainly of no consequence to the public; but 
(unless it be very absurd) I would wish to specify them; 
for it would hurt me, as a student at the bar, to have it 
thought that I continue to apply myself to poetry ; and 
I mean to insinuate that I have given it up for several 
years, which I must explain more fully in the preface. 
For a man who wishes to rise in the law must be sup¬ 
posed to have no other object. 

* C. Mcviczki to Mr . ^tones . 

Vienna, Oct . 13 , 1771 . 

I have waited nearly twelve months, to no purpose, 
For an opportunity of sending you my last work, which, 
at your recommendation, has been published; the polite¬ 
ness of one of the secretaries of the English embassy, 
who is returning to England, has at last supplied it, by 
kindly offering to take charge of this production of mine, 
(unless you will call it yours) and deliver it to you. It 
is my wish to avail myself of the same opportunity to 
thank you for your present; but it is not in my power 
to make you the due acknowledgments; it'is sufficient 
to proclaim your deeds. I admire your wonderful la¬ 
bour and learning, and more particularly your diligence 
in the triple work, with which you have favoured me; 
but I blush at the extravagant encomiums which you 
have bestowed upon me. IT you persevere as you have 
begun, in.cultivating Oriental literature, the republic of 
letters will be greatly obliged to you. I am extremely 
anxious to know what recompense his Danish majesty, 


Appendix, No. 20. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


105 


or your own sovereign, at his recommendation, has 
conferred upon your learned labours. I should rejoice 
to have it in my power to congratulate you, and those 
who esteem you as much as I do, on your distinguished 
merit having been honourably rewarded...Farewel. 

* Mr. Jones to C. Reviczki. 

Oxford , Dec. 1771. 

Thirteen months, or rather I may say years, have 
elapsed, without a line from my friend! I have, how¬ 
ever, written to you twice, once and very fully in Latin, 
last March, and again in July, in a great hurry, in 
French. These letters contained a detailed account 
of my occupations and views, of the profession which I 
had adopted, and of the splendid objects to which I 
ambitiously looked forward. You have, I trust, re¬ 
ceived my four books, which Mr. Whitchurch, chap¬ 
lain to our ambassador, at my request, promised to 
deliver to you at Vienna. I recommend him to you? 
particular attention, as a young man of an excellent 
disposition, and very fond of literature. This will be 
presented to you by Mr. Drummond, a man of letters, 
who proceeds to Vienna for the purpose of studying 
physic. You know r that the medical profession is held 
in the highest estimation with us, and, as Homer 
says,. 

A wise physician high distinction claims. 

Your reception of them both will, 1 hope, do credit to 
my recommendation. 

I beg your acceptance also of a little Philippic,| 
which I wrote against an obscure coxcomb, who had 

* Appendix, No. 21. This letter must have been written before the 
receipt of the last from Reviczki. 
t Works, vol. iv. p. 183. 


104 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


the audacity to abuse our university, not with impu¬ 
nity, I trust, if the edge of my discourse have any 
effect upon the senseless knave. u I have disquieted ” 
(as Cicero says of his Commentaries) “ the French na- 
“ tion.”- How goes on Hafez, our mutual delight? 
Shall we never see your translation of his charming odes? 
Tell me, if you like" my English version of the second 
ode:* it has been favourably received by my own 
countrymen. I should like to translate several more 
of his odes, but I want leisure. 

I have not yet found any translator capable of doing 
justice to your Treatise on the Military Art of the 
Turks. All agree that your preface is both learned 
and elegant; but they urge, as you yourself remark in 
the introduction, that the book, does not correspond 
with its title, The Principles of the Science of Govern¬ 
ment. 

The original of this work in the Turkish language, 
with many others printed at Constantinople, including 
a most beautiful copy of the Odes of Mesihi, are depo¬ 
sited in the library of our Royal Society. I beg to be 
informed if all the works published by Ibrahim, which 
you so much commend, are to be purchased in Germa¬ 
ny, Hungary, or the eastern parts of Turkey; as, in 
that case, I should wish to procure them. 

What news from Turkey? no mention of peace? 
Whenever the war, with Russia is at an end, I propose 
making an open and direct application for the office of 
minister at Constantinople. At present I can only 
privately whisper my wishes. The king is very well 
disposed towards me ; so perhaps are the men in power; 
and the Turkish Company wish much to oblige me. 
All that I have to apprehend is the appearance of some 
powerful competitor, who may drive me off the stage, 
* Works, vol. ii. p. 244. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 105 

If I should succeed in my wishes, how shall I bound 
for joy! First, I shall enjoy your company at Vienna; 
then I shall drink deep of Asiatic literature; and I shall 
explore the Turkish manners in their most hidden 
sources. If I am disappointed, philosophy remains; 
the bar is open, and I shall not, I trust, want employ¬ 
ment; for the harvest of litigation is always abundant. 
I shall apply to the study of eloquence, to poetry, his¬ 
tory, and philosophy; each of which, if properly culti¬ 
vated, w r ould occupy a complete life of 

u Such men as live in these degenerate days.” 

I could say much more, but I yield to the imperious 
summons (not of Proserpine I hope, but) of the god¬ 
dess, if there be one, whcf^resides over our tribunals. 
You may expect longer letters in future from me: and, 
in the mean time, I hope to hear very fully from you. 
Farewel, my dear friend. 

Mr. Jones to Mr. Hawkins. 

Westminster , Jan. 16, 1772. 

As I have a frank directed to you, I take the liberty 
to enclose a letter for my mother, which I beg you be 
so kind as to send to her. I have nothing at present 
to say on the subject of my publication, except that you 
will be so good as to send me the sheets of the essays, 
under cover, to Mr. Brudenell, lest there should be 
any thing that may be altered. I entreat you also to 
criticize my prose, as you have done my verse, and to 
reprimand me severely, where you find it stiff, forced, 
or.obscure. I forgot to mention another respectable 
scholar, who saw and approved my poems ; I mean the 
present bishop of St. Asaph, whose learning, to say a 
great deal, is as extensive as his virtues are amiable. 
Dr. Warton, of Winchester, is another excellent critic, 
R 


106 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

through whose hands my trifles shall pass before they 
see the light. I have dined with him at Sir Joshua 
Reynolds’s, where he paid me a compliment before the 
whole company, which I cannot write without blushing* 
He said, my Greek poems, which he had seen in ma¬ 
nuscript, were worthy of ancient Greece. I dare say 
this learned and ingenious man will suffer me to send 
him a copy of the poems at Winchester; and that he 
will make his remarks very sincerely. When I have 
collected the criticisms of these gentlemen, I will com¬ 
pare them, and add my corrections at the end, under 
the title of emendations, as Pope has inserted his altera¬ 
tions in the text of his poems, and set down the varia¬ 
tions or first readings in the margin. I think it will be 
better (as we must not lose the season for publication) 
to send the copies to my friends, as soon as the trifle 
on Chess is printed, and to shew them the prose after¬ 
wards. 

My Turkish History will go to the press on Mon¬ 
day. Lord Radnor has given me leave, in the most 
flattering terms, to inscribe it to him. 

I‘ have a notion I shall be a great talker, when I am 
at the bar; for I cannot take up my pen without filling 
three sides of paper, though I have nothing to say when 
I sit down. 

I am, &c. 

* Mr . Jones to Robert Orme , Esq, 

April , 1772. 

It is impossible for me to describe the delight and 
admiration I have felt, from the perusal of your Histgry 
of the War in India. The plans, circumstances, and 
events of it, are so clearly described by you, that I felt 


Appendix, No. 22. 


107 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

an interest in them, rather as an actor, than a reader. I 
was particularly pleased with your delineation of the 
lives and characters of those who had distinguished 
themselves by their actions or wisdom; nor was I less 
delighted with the elegance of your topographical de¬ 
scriptions; that of the Ganges particularly pleased me : 
it is absolutely a picture. I have remarked that the 
more polished historians, of all ages, as well as the poets, 
have been fond of displaying their talents in describing 
rivers. Thus Thucydides describes the Achelous, and 
Xenophon the Teliboas, and both admirably, though in 
a different manner: the latter with his usual brevity and 
elegance, the former with a degree of roughness and 
magnificence not uncommon to him. With respect to 
your style, if elegance consist in the choice and colloca¬ 
tion of words, you have a most indubitable title to it; 
for you have on all occasions selected the most appro¬ 
priate expressions, and have given to them the most 
beautiful arrangement; and this is almost the greatest 
praise which a composition can claim. 

The publication of the second part of your history, 
which has been so long and earnestly looked for, 'will be 
highly acceptable to those whose opinions you respect; 
and I need not say that it will add to your reputation. 
Indeed, it is not just, that the Coromandel coast only 
should receive the ornament of your pen, to the neglect 
of Bengal, which an Indian monarch pronounced the 

delight of the world. 

* % * * -*■ * 

If the reader should complain that the correspond¬ 
ence presented to him is not always important 01 in¬ 
teresting, I can only plead, in excuse, my inability to 
make any selection that would obviate this remark, 
without being liable to the weightier objection of exhi¬ 
biting an imperfect picture of the character of Mr. 


108 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

Jones. To me it is pleasing to trace him in his closet* 
unfold his meditations, develop his projects, and follow 
him in his familiar intercourse with his friends: and 
whilst my admiration is excited by the ardour of his 
mind, embracing in idea excellence unattainable even 
by him, and conceiving works impracticable from their 
extent, I participate with equal pleasure in his relaxa¬ 
tions and amusements. 

The plan of the Epic poem, which he mentions in 
his letters to his Polish friend, was sketched during his 
residence at Spa, in July, 1770. The original ma¬ 
nuscript has been preserved; and I am enabled to com¬ 
municate it to the public.* The subject of the poem 
was the supposed discovery of our island by Tyrian 
adventurers; and he proposed to exhibit, under the 
character of the prince of Tyre, that of a perfect king 
of this country; a character which he pronounces the 
most glorious and beneficial of any that the warmest 
imagination can form. It represents (to quote his own 
words) the dangers to which a king of England is ne¬ 
cessarily exposed, the vices which he must avoid/ and 
the virtues, and great qualities, with which he must be 
adorned. On the whole, “ Britain Discovered” is in¬ 
tended as a poetical panegyric on our excellent consti¬ 
tution, and as a pledge of the author’s attachment to it; 
as a national Epic poem, like those of Homer, Virgil* 
Tasso, and Camoens, designed to celebrate the honours 
of his country, to display, in a striking light, the most 
important principles of politics and morality, and to in¬ 
culcate these grand maxims, that nothing can shake our 
state, while the true liberty of the subject remains 
united with the dignity of the sovereign, and that, in all 
states, virtue is the only sure basis of private and public 
happiness. 

. * Appendix, A. I 5 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 109 

He reserved the completion of the poem to a period 
of leisure and independence which never arrived; and, 
although, after an interval of some years, he resumed 
the idea of composing an Epic poem on the same sub¬ 
ject, but with considerable alterations, he never ex¬ 
tended the execution of it beyond a few lines. 

Whether the Turkish history, which Mr. Jones 
mentions as ready for the press, was ever finished, I 
am not informed; part of the original manuscript still 
remains; the introduction* to it was printed, but not 
published. 

The anticipation of future prospects, suggested by 
the fervour of youthful imagination, is too common to 
all, but particularly to men of genius, to excite much 
surprise: and of them it has been generally and justly 
remarked, that what has been performed by them bears 
little proportion to what was projected. In their pro¬ 
gress through life impediments occur to the execution 
of their plans, which the mind at first eagerly over¬ 
looks; whilst time, imperceptibly advancing, deprives 
them of the power, and even of the inclination, to com¬ 
plete what has been designed with so much ardour. 
They find, what experience daily proves., that the duties 
of life can only be properly performed, when they are 
the primary objects of our regard and attention. 

The little discourse, to which Mr. Jones humour¬ 
ously alludes in his letter to Reviczki, was a letter in 
French, addressed to Monsieur Anquetil du Perron, 
and printed in 1771. The Frenchman had published, 
in three quarto volumes, an account of his travels in 
India, the life of Zoroaster, and some supposed works 
of that philosopher. To this publication he prefixed a 
discourse, in which he treated the university of Oxford, 
and some of its learned members, and friends of Mr. 

♦Appendix, B. ,?\ < UyO * 

I i 



110 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Jones, with ridicule and disrespect. From the perusal 
of his works, Mr. Jones was little disposed to agree 
with Monsieur du Perron, in the boasted importance of 
his communications; he was disgusted with his vanity 
and petulance, and particularly offended by his illiberal 
attack upon the university which he respected, and 
upon the persons whom he esteemed and admired. 
The letter which he addressed to M. du Perron was 
anonymous; it was written with great force, and ex¬ 
presses his indignation and contempt with a degree of 
asperity which the judgment of maturer years would 
have disapproved. Professor Biorn Sthal, a Swedish 
Orientalist, says of it, that he had known many French¬ 
men so far mistaken in the writer, as to ascribe it to 
some bel esprit of Paris. Such, in their opinion, was 
the brilliancy and correctness of its style. Dr. Hunt, 
the Laudian professor of Arabic, at Oxford, who had 
been contemptuously mentioned by du Perron, ad¬ 
dressed the two following letters to Mr. Jones on this 
occasion r 

dear sir, Ch , Church , Oct . 25, 1771. 

I have now found the translation of all the remains 
of Zoroaster, mentioned in your last, and think, upon 
an attentive perusal of it, that the account which Dr. 
Fraser has given of it is true. 

I never told Perron that I understood the ancient 
Persic language; and I am authorized by Mr. Swinton, 
who was present all the time Perron was with me, to 
say, that he never heard me tell him so. I might, per¬ 
haps, say, that I knew the old Persic character, as given 
by Dr. Hyde; but to a further knowledge of the Ian- 
guage I never pretended, nor could I tell him that I did. 
But for a proof of the veracity of this fellow, I beg leave 
to refer you to page 461 of his preliminary discourse, 


Ill 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

where he says, he made me a present of a fine Sansker- 
rit (or, as he calls it, Sanskrotan) alphabet; and that he 
promised Dr. Barton and Mr. Swinton to send them 
alphabets of the several Asiatic languages ; whereas he 
neither made me the present, nor performed the pro¬ 
mise to them. Mr. Swinton says he can furnish us 
with other instances of this Frenchman’s veracity, which 
he has promised to do in a few days. In the mean 
time, I am, &c. 

Thomas Hunt. 

dear sir, Ch . Church , Nov. 28, 1771. 

I received the welcome present of your excellent 
pamphlet against Perron* in due time, and yesterday I 
was favoured with your kind letter; for both which I 
return you my hearty thanks. I should have thanked 
you for your pamphlet sooner, but have been out of 
town. I have read it over and over again, and think 
the whole nation, as well as the university and its mem¬ 
bers, are much obliged to you for this able and spirited 
defence. I acknowledge myself to be so in a particular 
manner, and so does Mr. Swinton, who desires his 
compliments and thanks. But there is one thing which 
Mr. Swinton seems to doubt of, which is, whether there 
has been such a general destruction of the writings of 
the ancient Persians as you imagine there has been. 
For my own part, till some better proof can be given 
of the authenticity of those books, which have been 
produced as the genuine compositions of that ancient 
people, than what I have yet seen given, I am inclined 
to be of your opinion. At least, this I am sure of, that 
if the books, which Alexander, Omar, &c. destroyed, 
were no better than those which have been published, 

* Works, vol. iv. p. 583, 


112 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


the world has had no great loss; witness the insuffera¬ 
ble jargon which you have given from their writings in 
the 38th and 41st, he. pages of your letter; to which, 
as this bulky performance of Perron* will be but in few 
hands, it may not, perhaps, be amiss to add some others. 
But, as Mr. Swinton has suggested that he has some 
doubts about the fate of the writings of the. old Persians, 
I think you would do well to consult him, before you 
publish your English translation. 

I am glad you intend to oblige the world with an 

* Mons. Anquetil du Perron made a voyage to India, in 1755, for the 
purpose of acquiring the ancient language of Persia, and that of the Bra- 
mins. His ardour for this undertaking 1 was so great, that he engaged 
himself to the French East India Company as a private soldier, as afford¬ 
ing the speediest means of accomplishing the voyage ; but some friends 
procured his discharge, and a small pension tor him from the crown of 
France. He arrived at Pondicherry, in 1755, and after travelling over 
various parts of India, by the assistance of the government of Bombay, 
was enabled to return to Europe in an English vessel, and landed at 
Portsmouth, in November, 1761. He brought with him many Oriental 
manuscripts, which he afterwards carried to France, and, in 1771, pub¬ 
lished three quarto volumes, containing an account of his travels, and 
the information which he had obtained in the course of them, under the 
general title of Zind-Avesta , Ouvrage de Zoroaster. 

In a discourse addressed to the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, in 1789, 
Sir William Jones speaks of him, as “ having had the merit of under- 
“ taking a voyage to India in his earliest youth, with no other view than 
u to recover the writings of Zeratust (Zoroaster), and who would have 
“ acquired a brilliant reputation in France, if he had not sullied it by 
tc his immoderate vanity and virulence of temper, which alienated the 
“ good-will even of his own countrymen.” In the same discourse he 
affirms that M. Anquetil, most certainly, had no knowledge of Sanscrit* 

In 1798, M. Anquetil published a work, entitled, L’Inde en rapport 
avec l’Europe, which is more remarkable for the virulence of its invec¬ 
tives against the English, and for its numerous misrepresentations, than 
for the information which it contains, or the soundness of the reflections 
which its conveys. In the summary of its contents, stated in the title page, 
he professes to give a detailed, accurate, and terrific picture of the 
English Machiavelism in India; and he addresses his work, in a ranting 
bombast dedication, to the manes of Dupleix and Labourdonnais. It 
does not appear that the temper of M. A. has been ameliorated, although 
he had then nearly attained his 70th year. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 113 

English translation of your letter; and if, among the 
anecdotes which Mr. Swinton sent you, you will be so 
good as to insert that, wherein he says, that he was pre¬ 
sent all the time that Perron was with me, but does not 
remember that I ever told him that I understood the 
ancient Persian language, I shall be much obliged to 
you. I am sure I never pretended, nor could pretend, 
to any further knowledge of it, than that of the alphabet, 
as given by Dr. Hyde. I am, &c. 

Thomas Hunt. 

The small volume of poems,* consisting chiefly of 
translations from the Asiatic languages, with two prose 
dissertations annexed, was published in 1772. We 
may be allowed to smile at the solicitude which Mr. 
Jones expresses in his correspondence on the subject of 
this publication, to avoid the imputation of devoting 
that time to the muses which belonged to his profes¬ 
sional studies, whilst we participate with pleasure the 
effects of his devotion to the objects of his admiration ; 
but his anxiety for his literary reputation, in deferring 
the publication of his poems until they had received all 
the improvements which care and attention, assisted by 
the criticisms of his friends, could bestow, is highly 
praise-worthy. 

On the 30th of April, 1772, Mr. Jones was elected a 
Fellow of the Royal Society, and admitted on May the 
14th of the same year. He does not appear to have 
communicated any paper for the Philosophical Trans¬ 
actions. 

From the first entrance of Mr. Jones into the uni¬ 
versity, until Michaelmas, 1768, when he took the de¬ 
gree of A. B. he had kept the terms regularly; from that 
period, to 1773, only occasionally. In the Easter term 

* Works, vol. iv. p. 399. 

R 


114 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

of that year, during the encaenia, he took his master’s 
degree. It was upon this occasion that he composed 
an oration, with an intention, which he did not execute, 
of speaking it in the theatre. The speech was pub¬ 
lished ten years after, and exhibits a striking memorial 
of independent principles, and well cultivated abilities 
....to vindicate learning from the malevolent aspersion 
of being destructive of manly spirit, unfavourable to 
freedom, andintroductive to slavish obsequiousness; to 
support the honour and independence of learned men; 
to display the transcendent advantages of the university 
of Oxford; were the topics which he had proposed to 
discuss, but on which the limits prescribed to his ora¬ 
tion forbade him to expatiate. 

The animation of his language shews, that these topics 
were ever near his heart. An ardent love of liberty, an 
enthusiastic veneration for the university, a warm and 
discriminate eulogium on learned men, who devoted 
their talents and labours to the cause 6f religion, sci¬ 
ence, and freedom, characterize his discourse, of which 
part has been lately quoted, with applause, by Dr. 
Parr.* 

The kindness of a contemporary student has commu¬ 
nicated an anecdote in proof of his particular aversion to 
the logic of the schools, that, in an oration which he 
pronounced in University-Hall, he declaimed violently 
against Burgersdiscius, Cracanthorpius, and the whole 
body of logicians in the college of queen Philippa, his 
opposite neighbour. Of his uncommon industry many 
proofs might be enumerated, and among others the copy¬ 
ing of several Arabic manuscripts, of which one wastjhe 
entertaining romance of Be^dreddm Hass an; or, Alad- 
ditfs Lamp , from a most elegant specimen of Arabian 
calligraphy. 


* Notes to Spital Sermon, p. 136. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. it's 

Nor was he less remarked for an affectionate attention 
to his mother and sister, who resided at Oxford; such 
portion of ,his time as he could spare from his studies 
was given to their society; and during his occasional 
absence from the university, he was regular in his cor¬ 
respondence with his mother. 

We may conceive and participate the delight of a 
fond parent, contemplating the increasing reputation of 
her son. She now found her maternal care and anxiety 
repaid in a degree equal t to her most sanguine expecta¬ 
tions, and her affection rewarded by a full measure of 
filial; duty and gratitude. The progress of the virtues 
is not always in proportion to literary improvement, and 
learning, which ought to meliorate the affections, and 
strengthen the principles of duty, has been known to 
distort the mind, by pride, and engender arrogance. In 
Mr. Jones we have the pleasure to see every moral 
principle promoted and invigorated by his literary at¬ 
tainments. 

In the commencement of 1774, he published his Com¬ 
mentaries on Asiatic poetry. This work was received 
with admiration and applause by the Oriental scholars 
of Europe in general, as well as by the learned of his 
own country. It was perhaps the first publication on 
Eastern literature, which had an equal claim to elegance 
and erudition. This work was begun by Mr, Jones in 
1766, and finished in 1769, when he was in his twenty- 
third year ; but with the same solicitude which he had 
exhibited on other occasions, to lay his compositions be¬ 
fore the public in the greatest possible perfection, he 
had repeatedly submitted the manuscript to the examin¬ 
ation and critical remarks of his learned friends. Their 
approbation of it was liberal and general; but the opi¬ 
nion of Dr. Parr on any subject of literature is decisive; 
and I select from a letter, which he wrote to Mr. Jones, 


116 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


in 1769, some passages, in which he expresses his ad¬ 
miration of the work. 

“ I hare read your book, De Poesi Asiatipa, with all 
££ the attention that is due to a work so studiously de- 
“ signed, and so happily executed. The observations 
££ are just and curious, and equally free from indiscri- 
££ min ate approbation, licentious censure, and excessive 
“ refinement. 

“ Through the hurry of the first composition, the 
“ same expression frequently occurs, and sentences 
“ begin in the same manner, and now and then two 
££ words are improperly combined, 
b i £ These inaccuracies are very rare, and very trifling. 
££ On the whole/there is a purity, an ease, an elegance 
££ in the style,, which shew an accurate and most perfect 
££ knowledge of the Latin tonguea Your Latin trail s- 
££ lations in verse gave me great satisfaction. I am un- 
££ commonly charmed with the idyllium, called Chrysis. 
££ The flow of the verses, the poetic style of the words, 
££ and the elegant turn of the tvliole poem, are admi- 
“ rable. 

££ On the whole, I have received infinite entertain- 
<£ ment from this curious and learned performance; and 
££ I look forward with pleasure to the great honour such 
££ a publication will do our country.” 

It will readily be supposed that, in the interval be¬ 
tween the date of the letter and the publication of the 
Commentaries, Mr. Jones had not neglected to make 
the corrections, suggested by the criticisms of his learn¬ 
ed correspondent; and that such further emendations 
were adopted, as the growing maturity of his own judg¬ 
ment pointed out. 

In the preface to the Commentaries, Mr. Jones men¬ 
tions and laments the death of Dr. Sumner, in terms 
which strongly mark his affection for the memory of his 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 117 

respected friend and instructor, who died in Septem¬ 
ber, 1771. ‘ 

“ There never was a man more worthy of being re- 
“ membered, for his talents, integrity, admirable dispo- 
“ sition, amiable manners, and exquisite learning; in 
“ the art of instructing, I never knew any master equal 
<c to him; and his chearfulness and sweetness were such, 
“ that it is difficult to say, whether he was most agree- 
“ able to his friends or his pupils. In Greek and Latin 
“ literature he was deeply versed; and, although like 
<{ Socrates, he wrote little himself, no one had more 
“ acuteness or precision in correcting the faults, or in 
“ pointing out the beauties, of others; so that, if for- 
“ tune or the course of events, instead of confining his 
“ talents to a school, had placed him at the bar, or in the 
44 senate, he would have contested the prize of eloquence 
££ with the ablest orators of his own country, where only 
“ this art is successfully cultivated. For if he did not 
“ possess all the qualities of an orator in perfection, he 
<£ had each of them in a great degree. His voice was 
“ clear and distinct, his style polished, his expression 
“ fluent, his wit playful, and his memory tenacious; 
“ his eyes, his countenance, his action, in short, were 
“ rather those' of a Demosthenes than of an ordinary 
“ speaker; in short, we may say of him, what Cicero 
t£ said of Roscius, that whilst he seemed the only mas- 
££ ter qualified for the education of youth, he seemed, at 
<£ the same time, the only orator capable of discharging 
► “ the most important functions of the state.” 

Those who had the good fortune to receive their 
tuition under Dr. Sumner, will not think thiseulogium 
exaggerated, and must read with pleasure a testimony, 
which their own recollection confirms.* 

* The following epitaph, said to be composed by Dr. Parr, is in¬ 
scribed on the monument of Dr. Sumner, at Harrow on the hill: 


118 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


The dedication of his Commentaries to the univer¬ 
sity of Oxford, which he pronounced “Would be the 
“ most illustrious of all universities, as long as she re- 
“ mained free,” was a pleasing proof of his gratitude 
to his alma mater; and he concludes the preface with 
some animated thoughts, which I shall endeavour to 

H. S. E. 

ROBERTUS SUMNER, S. T. P. 

Coll. Regal, apud Cantab, olim socius. 

Scholae Harroviensis, hrfnd ita pridem, 

-ArdiididaipulusJ f * 

Fuit huic praestantissjmo viro 
Ingenium nature peracre, optimarum 
disciplinis artmm sedulo excnltum 
Usu diuturno conjirmatum, Sc quodam- 
modo subactum. 

Nemo enim, 

Aut in reconditis sapientiae studiis ill# 
subtilior extitit, 

Aut humanioribus lkerte limatior. 

Egregiis cum dotibus naturae turn 
doctrinae praeditus. 

Insuper accedebant 
In sententiis, vera ap perfecta elo- 
; quentia, 

In sermone, facetiarum lepos, plan£ 

Atticus, f 

Et gravitate insuper aspersa urbanitas; * , 

In moribus singularis quaedam 
integritas et fides; 

Vitae denique ratio constans sibi, et ad 
virtutis normam diligenter 
severeque exacta, 

Omnibus qui vel amico essent eo, 
vel magistro usi 

Doctrinae, ingenii, virtutis justum 
reliquit desiderium. 

Subita, eheu, atque immatura morte 
** correptus, 

Prid. Id. Septemb. 

Anno Domini m, dcc, lxxi. 

- iEtat. suae 41. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


119 


convey, with the full consciousness, at the same time, of 
the imperfection of my attempt. 

“ Whether this work will please the French, or their 
“ admirers, is to me of little concern, provided it prove 
“ acceptable to my country, and to that renowned uni- 
“ versity, in which I received my education: with a 
“ view to the honour of both, these Commentaries were 
“ undertaken and completed; nor is there any wish so 
“ near to my heart as that all my labours, past or future, 
“ may be useful and agreeable to them. I lament, in- 
“ deed, the necessity which compels me to renounce 
“ the pursuit of polite literature; but, why do I say 
“ lament ? let me rather rejoice, that I am now enter- 
“ ing upon a career, which will supply ampler and 
44 better opportunities of relieving the oppressed, of 
4 ‘ assisting the miserable, and of checking the despotic 
44 and tyrannical. 

44 If I am asked, who is the greatest man? I answer, 
44 the best; and if I am required to say who is the best, 
44 I reply, he that has deserved most of his fellow crea- 
44 tares. Whether we deserve better of mankind by 
44 the cultivation of letters* by obscure and inglorious 
44 attainments, by intellectual pursuits calculated rather 
44 to amuse than inform, than by strenuous exertions in 
44 speaking and acting, let those consider who bury 
44 themselves in studies unproductive of any benefit to 
44 their country or fellow-citizens. I think not. I 
44 have been long enough engaged in preparatory exer- 
* 44 cises, and I am now b called to the field. What 
44 my fortune may be, I know not; this, however, I 
44 know, that the most anxious object of my heart is, 
44 after having run my career, to retire, in advanced life, 
44 to the ever beloved retreat of the university; not with 
44 a view to indulge myself in indolence, which my dis- 
44 position abhors, but to enjoy a dignified leisure in 


120 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

‘ c the uninterrupted cultivation of letters, which the 
“ profession I am preparing to embrace no longer 
u suffers me to pursue.” 

At the conclusion of the Commentaries we find an 
elegant address to the Muse, in which Mr. Jones ex¬ 
presses his determination to renounce polite literature, 
and devote himself entirely to the study of the law. He 
was called to the bar in January, 1774, and had dis¬ 
covered, as he writes to an intimate friend, that the law 
was a jealous science, and would admit no partnership 
w T ith the Eastern muses. To this determination he 
appears to have inflexibly adhered for some years, not¬ 
withstanding the friendly remonstrances and flattering 
invitations of his learned correspondents. He had, about 
this time, an intention of publishing the mathematical 
works of his father, and with this view circulated pro¬ 
posals ; but, for what reason I know not, he abandoned 
it. 

I now revert to his correspondence, of which I repeat 
my regret that so little remains. 

Dr. Hunt to Mr. Jones. 

dear sir, Ch. Church , March 2, 1774. 

I return you my hearty thanks for your most ac¬ 
ceptable present of your excellent book on the Asiatic 
poetry. I should have made you my acknowledgments 
for this great favour before, but I have been so entirely 
engaged in reading the book (which I have done from 
the beginning to the end), that I have not had time to 
think of its worthy author, any otherwise than by tacitly 
admiring, as I went along, his exquisitely fine parts, 
and wonderful learning. Indeed, so engaging is the 
beautiful style of this admirable performance, and so 
striking the observations it contains, that it is next to 


121 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

impossible for a person, who has any taste for this branch 
of literature, when he has once taken it into his hand, 
to lay aside again, without giving it a thorough perusal. 
I find you have enriched this work with a great variety 
of curious quotations and judicious criticisms, as well 
as with the addition of several valuable ne w pieces, since 
you favoured me with the sight of it before, and the 
pleasure which I have now had in reading it has been 
in proportion. I hope this new key to the Asiatic 
poetry with which you have obliged the world, will not 
be suffered to rust for want of use; but that it will prove 
what you intended it to' be, an happy instrument in the 
hands of learned and inquisitive men, for unlocking the 
rich treasures of wisdom and knowledge which have 
been preserved in the Hebrew, Arabic, Persic, and the 
other Oriental languages, and especially the Hebrew, 
that venerable channel, through which the sacred com¬ 
positions of the divinely-inspired poets have been con¬ 
veyed down to us. 

I hope this will find you well, and am, &c. 

Thomas Hunt. 

P. S. I have seen your proposals for printing the 
mathematical works of my worthy friend, your late father, 
and beg to be of the number of your subscribers. 

* Mr. Jones to F. P. Bayer. 

March , 1774. 

I have received a most elegant copy of your Trea¬ 
tise on the Phoenician language and colonies, and I am 
at a loss to decide whether it is most learned or enter¬ 
taining. Although I fear, like Diomede, that I shall 
give you brass in exchange for your gold* yet I send 
you, as a proof of my gratitude and esteem, my Com- 

* Appendix, No. 23. 

S 


122 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

mentaries on Asiatic poetry; and it will afford me great 
satisfaction to learn that they please you....Farewel. 

* Mr, Jones to H, A, Schultens, 

July , 1774. 

This letter will be presented to yon by Mr. Camp¬ 
bell, a young gentleman of great modesty and worth, 
and I recommend him to your particular attention. He 
intends going to India as a merchant, but, previous to 
his embarkation, wishes to give some time to the study 
of foreign languages, European and Asiatic, and parti¬ 
cularly the Persian. Any assistance w^ich you may 
afford him in his studies, or other little affairs, I shall 
esteem a favour done to myself, and he will consider it 
a great obligation.. 

How goes on our Hariri. Will it ever be published 
with your elucidations ? My time is employed in the 
courts; and whatever leisure I can command is exclu¬ 
sively devoted to the study of law and history. I hope, 
you have received my Commentaries which I sent you. 
Farewel. 

t H, A. Schultens to Mr, Jones . 

The phoenix of his time, and the ornament of the 
age....Health ! 

Amsterdam , Sept, 1774. 

When I reflect, my dear Jones, upon the fortunate 
period, which I passed in your happy island, I feel the 
most exquisite delight at the recollection of the pleasure 
and improvement which I derived from your society : 
at the same time my anxiety for your company excites 
the most lively regret at our separation. If I cannot 


Appendix, No. 24. 


t Appendix, No. 2 5 . 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 12* 

altogether conquer it, I can at least alleviate it by cor- 
responding with you. 

Nothing but a variety of unusual occupations could 
have delayed my writing to you so long after my return 
to Amsterdam; I was moreover apprehensive of inter¬ 
rupting your studies by my intrusion. The receipt of 
the obliging present of your Commentaries, has removed 
all my fear on this account, and affords me a most agree¬ 
able proof of your remembrance. Accept my sincerest 
thanks for your finished and most elegant work, which 
I have eagerly read again and again with admiration 
and astonishment. 

As sincere a lover as yourself of the muses, how 
much I regret their unhappy lot, that whilst they have 
so few admirers, one of their most distinguished vota¬ 
ries should be seduced from their service by the dis¬ 
cordant broils of the bar. Do they not then possess 
such charms and graces as to merit a preference to 
others, who have no portion but wealth and honour? 
Is not their beauty so attractive, their dress so elegant 
and enchanting, as to fascinate their admirers to a 
degree which makes them despise all others, and feel 
no delight but in their society? Forgive, my dear 
Jones, this friendly expostulation. 

Two or three copies only of your work have reached 
us: I beg you will not suffer the inattention of book¬ 
sellers to deprive us of a larger supply. You will re¬ 
ceive shortly a little inaugural discourse which I pro¬ 
nounced here, on extending the limits of Oriental litera¬ 
ture. It was done too much in haste to be as perfect 
as it ought to have been, and as I could have made it 
with more leisure. The office which I hold here is 
most agreeable to me, but is attended with this incon¬ 
venience, that the duties of it allow me no time for the 
pursuit of other studies; and the attention which I am 


m MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

forced to bestow on grammatical institutions, on expla¬ 
natory lectures on the Old Testament, and in disqui¬ 
sitions on the Jewish antiquities, precludes the perusal 
of Arabic, and still more of Persian authors. But I 
submit the more cheerfully to this restraint, as the 
assiduity of my present exertions will produce more 
leisure in future; and when I have once committed to 
paper the mass of lectures which I have annually to 
repeat, I shall then be at full liberty to employ myself 
as I please. I have absolutely determined to publish 
Meidani, but it will require the labour of ten years : 
you well know that, without a competent knowledge, 
not only of the language of the East, but of Oriental 
history, ceremonies and manners, it would be madness 
to attempt it. Whether my labours will ever have the 
assistance of a midwife, time must shew. Professor 
Scheidius is employed in publishing Giewhari: the 
expense of the undertaking far exceeds his means, but 
he hopes to provide against this difficulty, by publishing 
one, or more numbers annually, according to alpha¬ 
betical arrangement, by which means the sale of each 
may furnish the expense of the succeeding. 

I have nothing further to communicate to you, but 
I most anxiously long to see you. If you have the 
ambition of your countryman, Banks, to expose your¬ 
self to the inclemency of winter by visiting me here, 
all my fear of the cold will be lost in the hope that a 
long and intense frost may detain you. Nothing how¬ 
ever can give me more pleasure, either in winter or 
summer, than to have you for my guest. My wife, 
whom I married about five months since, is equally 
anxious to see a man, of whom she hears her husband 
perpetually talking; she, as well as my father, who 
received inexpressible delight in the perusal of your 
Commentaries, desires to be remembered to you....he 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 125 

entertains the highest respect and esteem for you. Let 
me know how you are, and whether your mother and 
sister are well. Do me the favour also to inform them, 
that I shall ever remember, with gratitude, the obliga¬ 
tions which I owe to their great politeness and atten¬ 
tion to me. Consider me ever as the humble servant 
of yourself and friends.... Fare wel 5 and love me ever. 

P. S. I almost forgot to mention our Damascene 
prince; his name, I think, is Joseph Abas. I regret 
that during his residence at this place, he only called 
upon me two days before his departure for Brussels. 
I was highly delighted with his liberal, manly, and 
truly Arabian spirit; neither did he appear deficient in 
polite literature, but of this you are a better judge than 
I am. For my own part I must ever retain a regard 
for a man, whose conversation so entertained and in¬ 
terested me, under the attack of a fever, that it abso¬ 
lutely prevented the return of it. 

*Mr. Jones to H. A. Schultens. 

October , 1774. 

I have had the pleasure to receive your letter dated 
in September, which did not however reach me, till 
after my return to London, from a summer excursion 
to the Kentish coast. 

I am highly gratified by your father’s and your ap¬ 
probation of my Commentaries, and I acknowledge the 
kindness of your friendly and polite expostulation in 
telling me that you cannot bear to see me desert the 
cause of literature. But, my friend, the die is cast, 
and I have no longer a choice; all my books and ma¬ 
nuscripts, with an exception of those only which relate 
to law and oratory, are locked up at Oxford, and I have 


Appendix, No. 26. 


126 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


determined, for the next twenty years at least, to renounce 
all studies but those which are connected with my pro¬ 
fession. It is needless to trouble you with my reasons 
at length for this determination. I will only say, that 
if I had lived at Rome or Athens, I should have pre¬ 
ferred the labours, studies, and dangers of their orators 
and illustrious citizens, connected as they were with 
banishment and even death, to the groves of the poets, 
or the gardens of the philosophers. Here I adopt the 
same resolution. The constitution of England is in 
no respect inferior to that of Rome or Athens ; this is 
my fixed opinion, which I formed in my earliest years, 
and shall ever retain. Although I sincerely acknowledge 
the charms of polite literature, I must at the same time 
adopt the sentiment of Neoptolemus in the tragedy, that 
we can philosophize with a few only, and no less the 
axiom of Hippocrates, that life is short, art long, and 
time swift. But I will also maintain the excellence 
and the delight of other studies. What, shall we deny 
that there is pleasure in mathematics, when we recollect 
Archimedes, the prince of geometricians, who was so 
Intensely absorbed in the demonstration of a problem, 
that he did not discover Syracuse was taken? Can we 
conceive any study more important than the single one 
of the laws of our own country? Let me recal to your 
recollection the observations of L. Crassus and Q. 
Scssvola on this subject, in the treatise of Cicero de 
Oratore. What! do you imagine the goddess of elo¬ 
quence to possess less attractions than Thalia or Poly¬ 
hymnia, or have you forgotten the epithets which Ennius 
bestows on Cethegus, the quintessence of eloquence, 
and the fiower of the people? Is there a man existing 
who would not rather resemble Cicero, whom I wish 
absolutely to make my model, both in the course of 
his life and studies, than be like Varro, however learned, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 12 7 

or Lucretius, however ingenious as a poet? If the 
study of the law were really unpleasant and disgusting, 
which is far from the truth, the example of the wisest 
of the ancients, and of Minerva herself, the goddess of 
wisdom, would justify me in preferring the useful 
olive to the barren laurel. 

To tell you my mind freely, I am not of a disposition 
to bear the arrogance of men of rank, to which poets 
and men of letters are so often obliged to submit. Ac¬ 
cept this friendly reply to your friendly expostulation, 
and believe my assurances that I entertain the highest 
value for your esteem, of which I have received so 
many proofs. I most anxiously expect your disserta¬ 
tion. May the Almighty prosper your labours, and 
particularly your laborious task of Meidani. May the 
most learned Sdheidius persevere with resolution in 
completing the gigantic work, which he meditates. I 
admire his most laudable industry, but after the fate 
of Meninski, (I do not speak of his works, but of his 
fortunes) no prudent man (for he that is not wise to 
himself is wise to no end) will venture to expose his 
vessel to the perils of shipwreck in so uncertain a sea. 
The work is worthy of a king, but the expense of it 
will require the revenue of a king. 

My mother and sister cordially unite with me in 
congratulations on your marriage, and I beg you to 
make my compliments to your amiable consort, and 
most respectable father. I thank you for your invitation 
to Amsterdam, and assure you that I should be most 
happy to avail myself of it. In your society I should 
prefer a winter in Holland to the gardens of the Hespe- 
rides, nor indulge a wish for the vales of Tempe; but 
my legal occupations make the summer more conve¬ 
nient for travelling. I promise you therefore to pass 
some time with you in the July, or August, of the next 
or following year. 


128 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

I rejoice to find you pleased with Joseph the Syrian, 
and equally so that he means to travel through Germany. 
His history is somewhat long and interesting. If I had 
not exerted myself in my application to some men of 
rank in London, who have access to the king, he must 
have passed a life of misery here, or have died most 
wretchedly. 

The bookseller keeps for you the books which you 
desired to purchase. You cannot as yet have received 
a short letter which I wrote to you in July, and sent by 
a young gentleman of the name of Campbell. The son 
of the king of Spain, prince Gabriel, did me the honour 
to send me a most splendid copy of his Sallust, for 
which I returned my grateful acknowledgments. 

You have doubtless heard of the travels of Mr. Bruce, 
a native of Scotland, into Syria, Arabia, Abyssinia, 
Nubia, and Egypt. He is as well acquainted with the 
coast of the Red sea, and the sources of the Nile, as 
with his own house. He has brought with him some 
iEtliiopic manuscripts, and amongstthem the prophecies 
of Enoch, an ancient book, but to be ranked only with 
the Sybiliine oracles. 

Whilst I was writing this letter, a person called upon 
me with a manuscript, which he had received at Venice 
from Mr. Montague, a man of family. I immediately 
perceived it to be a most beautiful and correct copy of 
Motanabbi, with a letter addressed to myself in Arabic 
verse, from some person named Abdurrahman, whom 
Mr, Montague had probably seen in Asia. I owe 
great obligations to the politeness of the learned Arab, 
but I by no means think myself worthy of his exagge¬ 
rated encomiums....but you know the pompous style of 
the Orientals. Do not suppose that I have any present 
intention of reading the poems of Motanabbi; that must 
be reserved for Oxford, when I have leisure to attend to 


129 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

this, and my other treasures of the same kind. Relieve 
my assurance, that I entertain the highest esteem for 
you, and that nothing will give me greater pleasure than 
to hear from you frequently and at length. Take care 
of your health, and continue your regard for me. 

Mr. Howard to Mr. Jones. 
sir, Paris , September 13 , 1774 . 

As my stay here may be considerably longer than 
I at first proposed, it is a duty incumbent on me to 
acquit myself of a charge committed to my care in the 
month of June last by Mr. Montague, at Venice, by 
transmitting to you the manuscript which accompanies 
this letter. I should indeed have sent it to you much 
sooner, but the hopes I had of an earlier return to Eng¬ 
land, w r as the cause of my postponing it, that I might 
myself have had the pleasure of delivering it, which I 
flattered myself might have served as an introduction to 
the honour of your acquaintance, a happiness, which 
without compliment, I have long been very ambitious 
of. But as my affairs are likely to detain me some time 
longer in this city, I cannot with any propriety prefer 
my own interest to a more material one, nor ought I 
longer to injure the public, by depriving them of the 
pleasure and advantage they may reap from this manu¬ 
script’s coming to your hands. Mr. Montague loaded 
me with compliments to you, meant as real testimonies 
of the esteem he has for you, which I am very unfortu¬ 
nate in not having the pleasure of delivering. 

I have the honour to be, See. 

Mid. Howard. 


t 


130 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Jones to Mr. Howard. 
sir, Oct. 4, 1774, 

I cannot express how much I am Haltered by the 
kind attention, with which you honour me. I have 
just received your most obliging letter, with a fine 
Arabic manuscript, containing the works of a celebrated 
poet, with whom I have been long acquainted; this 
testimony of Mr. Montague’s regard is extremely 
pleasing to me, and I have a most grateful sense of his 
kindness. I am conscious how little I have deserved 
the many honours I have lately received from the learned 
in Europe and Asia; I can ascribe their politeness to 
nothing but their candour and benevolence. I fear they 
will think me still less deserving, when they know that 
I have deserted , or rather suspended , all literary pursuits 
whatever, and I am wholly engaged in the study of a 
profession, for which I was always intended. As the 
law is a jealous science, and will not have any partner¬ 
ship with the Eastern muses, I must absolutely renounce 
their acquaintance for ten or twelve years to come. 
This manuscript however is highly acceptable to me, 
and shall be preserved among my choicest treasures, 
till I have leisure to give it an attentive perusal. There 
is a compliment to me written in Arabic verse, in the 
first leaf of the book, and signed Abdurrahman Beg; 
the verses are very fine, but so full of Oriental panegy¬ 
ric, that I could not read them without blushing. The 
present seems to come from the learned Arabian, but 
as he has not inserted my name in his verses, and speaks 
of Oxford, he must have heard me mentioned by Mr. 
Montague, to 'whom therefore I am equally indebted, 
for the present. If I knew Mr. Montague’s direction, 
I would send him a letter of thanks for his indulgence 
to me, and would.also return my compliments in Arabic 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 131 

to his Asiatic friend, who seems to have sent the book. 
Before your return to England, I shall probably be 
removed to the Temple, where I shall wait impatiently 
for the pleasure of seeing you. 

I am, &c. 

William Jones. 

Mr. JVaddilo^c to Mr. Jones. 

•sir, St. lldefonso , Aug.J , J774. 

Upon my arrival at Madrid, I delivered your pre¬ 
sent of your Asiatic Commentaries to my friend Dr. 
F co . Perez Bayer: he desires me to return you his com¬ 
pliments and thanks for your politeness to him, and 
begs your acceptance of a copy of the Infant Don Ga¬ 
briel’s Sallust, which he accordingly sent to me the 
night before .we left Madrid. As we shall not be there 
again tiil next Christmas, I shall have no opportunity 
of forwarding it to you very soon: whenever any one 
offers, you may depend upon receiving it, but as this 
probably will not be before next spring, I hope you will 
not defer acknowledging the favour till then. If you 
should wish the Sallust before you write again to Mr. 
Bayer, you will find a copy in the Museum. If you 
have had any time to examine the Dissertation upon 
the Phoenician Language, he. Dr. F. P. Bayer will be 
glad of any remarks upon it, as a new edition of it in 
Latin will soon be printed. He has a curious collec¬ 
tion of Samaritan coins, and is now employed upon that 
subject; and if he could be prevailed upon to publish 
more of his enquiries into the antiquities of this and 
other countries, the learned world would be much in¬ 
debted to him. Casiri is engaged at present in decy¬ 
phering Moorish inscriptions, which have been found 
in different parts of Spain. Some are already engraved, 
but not yet published. He reduces first the characters 


132 'MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

to the modern Arabic, and then gives a translation and 
comment in Latin. Your Sallust is unbound, and you 
have already the dissertation to add to it. 

I am, &c. 

R. D. Waddilove. 

* Mr. 'Jones to F. P . Bayer. 

Oct. 4, 1774. 

I can scarcely find words to express my thanks for 
your obliging present of a most beautiful and splendid 
copy of Sallust, with an elegant Spanish translation. 
You have bestowed upon me, a private untitled indivi¬ 
dual, an honour which heretofore has only been con¬ 
ferred upon great monarchs, and illustrious universities. 
I really was at a loss to decide, whether I should begin 
my letter by congratulating you on having so excellent 
a translator, or by thanking you for this agreeable proof 
of your remembrance. I look forward to the increasing 
splendor, which the arts and sciences must attain in a 
country, where the son of the king possesses genius and 
erudition, capable of translating, and illustrating with 
learned notes, the first of the Roman historians; how 
few youths amongst the nobility in other countries pos¬ 
sess the requisite ability or inclination for such a task! 
The history of Sallust is a performance of great depth, 
wisdom, and dignity; to Understand it well is no small 
praise, to explain it properly is still more commendable, 
but to translate it elegantly excites admiration. If all 
this had been accomplished by a private individual, he 
would have merited applause, if by a youth he would 
have a claim to literary honours, but when to the title 
of youth, that of prince is added, we cannot too highly 
extol, or too loudly applaud, his distinguished merit. 


Appendix, No. 27 . 


133 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Many years are elapsed since I applied myself to the 
study of your learned language, but I well remember to 
have read in it with great delight the heroic poem of 
Alonzo, the odes of Garcilasso, and the humorous sto¬ 
ries oi Cervantes; but I most sincerely declare, that I 
never perused a more elegant or polished composition 
than the translation of Sallust, and I readily subscribe 
to the opinion of the learned author in his preface, that 
the Spanish language approaches very nearly to the dig¬ 
nity of the Latin. 

May the accomplished youth continue to deserve well 
of his country and mankind, and establish his claim to 
distinction s above all the princes of the age ! If I may be 
allowed to offer my sentiments, I would advise him to 
study most diligently the divine works of Cicero, which 
no man, in my opinion, ever perused without improv¬ 
ing in eloquence and wisdom. The epistle which he 
wrote to his brother Quintus, on the government of a 
province, deserves to be daily repeated by every sove¬ 
reign in the world: his books on offices, on moral ends, 
and the Tusculan questions, merit a hundred perusals, 
and his orations, nearly sixty in number, deserve to be 
translated into every European language, nor do I scru¬ 
ple to affirm, that his sixteen books of letters to Atticus, 
are superior to almost all histories, that of Sallust ex¬ 
cepted. With respect to your own compositions, I 
have read with great attention, and will again read your 
most agreeable book. I am informed that you propose 
giving a Latin translation of it, and I hope you will do it 
for the benefit of foreigners. I see nothing in it which 
requires alteration, nothing which is not entitled to 
praise. I much wish that you would publish more of 
your treatises on the antiquities of Asia and Africa. I 
am confident they would be most acceptable to such as 
study those subjects. Let me request your attention 


134 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


to a recommendation made in my own name, and that 
of the republic of letters....Farewell. 

* Mr. Jones to G. S. Michaelis. 

November , 1774. 

I beg you will do me the justice to believe that I 
have read your books with great attention. I neither 
entirely admit, nor reject your opinion on the fables of 
the Hebrews, but until the subject be better known and 
explored, I am unwilling to depart from the received 
opinions concerning them. Your approbation of my 
Commentaries gives me sincere pleasure. Nothing is 
more true, than that I have renounced the Asiatic muses 
and polite literature, and that for twenty years at least I 
have determined neither to write nor think about them. 
The-forum is my lot, and the law engrosses all my at¬ 
tention. Be assured, however, that I shall ever retain 
my esteem both for yourself and your works.... Fare well. 

Mr. Jones to Lady Spencer. 
madam, Duke Street. 

I take the liberty to present your ladyship with a 
copy of my poems, and cannot refrain from acquainting 
you with a plain truth, that the first of them, called So- 
lima, would never have been written, if I had never had 
the honour of knowing your ladyship. 

I am just come from Harrow, where it gave me in¬ 
expressible happiness to see lord Althorpe perfectly 
well, extremely improved, and deservedly beloved by 
all, as much as by his real friend, and 
Your ladyship’s 

Most obedient and faithful servant, 

William Jones. 


Appendix, No. 28 . 


,135 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Lady Spencer to Mr . Jones. 
sir, Althorpe, Jan. 10, 1775. 

The continual hurry occasioned by having a house 
full of company, added to my not having been quite* 
well, has prevented my thanking you sooner for your 
letter; you cannot doubt of my being much flattered, at 
your thinking you And any resemblance between my 
character and that of Solima, and still more at your tel¬ 
ling the world you do. I shall always look upon that 
poem, as a model you have set up for my imitation, and 
shall only be sorry I do not approach nearer to it, espe¬ 
cially after you have called upon me, in so public a 
manner, to improve myself in the ways of virtue and 
benevolence. I must decline your Second request of 
criticising, as I have neither time or talents for such an 
office, nor do I think your works require it. 

I am delighted with your invention of the Airdrome- 
ter, and wish every body would form one for themselves; 
it would be of infinite use to numbers of people, who 
from indolence and dissipation, rather go backwards 
than forwards in every useful attainment. 

I am, sir, with great esteem, 

Your faithful friend and humble servant, 
G. Spencer. 

* H. A. Schultens to Mr. Jones. 

Amsterdam , Jan. 6, 1775. 

Although the incessant and extraordinary occupa¬ 
tions in which I am at this time engaged, do not allow 
me to think even of writing to my friends, I cannot re¬ 
fuse a few lines to the most learned Bjornstahl, both for 
the purpose of introducing him to you, and to shew that 
I have not forgotten you. You will find our Fhilarabic 
Swede, a most agreeable companion, he has not only 

* -Appendix, No. 29. 


136 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


travelled much, but is deeply versed in Oriental litera¬ 
ture, of which he is very fond. I think I may venture 
to promise that the society of a person, who loves what 
you still delight in, (for I will not with you say, what 
you once delighted in) tv ill be most acceptable to you 
* * * 

* Mr. Jones to C. Reviczki. 

London , February , 1775. 

Do not suppose that I have forgotten you, because 
I write to you so seldom; I have not met with any per¬ 
son to whom I could entrust my packet, and I have no 
inclination to risk my familiar letters by the post. I 
doubt if this will ever reach you, and I fear therefore to 
write to you on any subject with my usual freedom, as 
your last letter of January, from Warsaw, was delivered 
to me opened; it is probable that you wall receive this 
in the same manner. I am so constantly occupied with 
law and politics, that I have no leisure for literature. I 
have published two books, and only want a safe oppor¬ 
tunity to send them to you. Write to me, I beseech 
you, for your friendship is my greatest delight. Flow 
much I wish that you were in England, or I in Ger¬ 
many, that we might live together. 

After all, I could not think of accepting the Turkish 
embassy. I will live in my own country, which cannot 
easily spare good subjects : it is scarcely yet free from 
commotion....Oh! how I should rejoice if I could see 
you here in a diplomatic character: I should not then 
envy the monarchs of Europe or Asia....Farewel again 
and again. 

C. Reviczki to Mr. Jones . 

If you are fully sensible of the very great regard I 
entertain for you, you will then conceive how much 


Appendix, No. 30. 


t Appendix, No. 31. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


137 


pleasure I felt at the receipt of your highly valued 
letter. Incessantly occupied for a long time, I have 
been compelled to forego the pleasure of corresponding 
with you, and I the more readily acknowledge your 
kindness in writing to me, when I could have no ex¬ 
pectation of hearing from you. Though I think it more 
prudent not to say any thing, the disclosure of which 
might be attended with unpleasant consequences, I im¬ 
pute the opening of my letter, which you mention, 
rather to accident than design. Your business as a law¬ 
yer must necessarily engage your closest attention. I 
cannot, therefore, ask you to write to me often; but 
thus much I wish you to know, that I shall soon have 
more leisure for corresponding with you, as the late 
close of the Diet, which lasted for two years (in my 
estimation a century), has almost left me at liberty. So 
much for the affairs of this part of the world. Of what is 
doing in your country your letter gives me no informa¬ 
tion, but I hear from other quarters of the agitations 
amongst you, in consequence of the commotions in the 
colonies, which I consider worse than a foreign war.... 
For my own part, I confess to you that I am tired both 
of my situation and my office, not so much on account 
of their difficulty as their unpleasantness, and all the 
consolation I feel arises from the hope that my present 
troublesome occupation will not last more than a year. 

I heartily wish I were in London, and at liberty to sit 
seriously down to the composition of some political 
work on the subject of our republic ; the task would be 
no less useful than agreeable. Indeed I can conceive 
nothing more pleasant than such an employment. 

If contrary to my expectations my wish should be 
gratified, I hope to find you there, and to enjoy as for¬ 
merly your society and conversation. I am anxious to 
have your last publication (the subject of which you 

u 


138 


4 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


do not mention), and doubt not that the perusal of it 
will afford me great pleasure. Farewell, and think of me 
always with affection. 

* * * * * * 

The preceding correspondence proves the high 
degree of estimation, in which the learning and abili¬ 
ties of Mr. Jones were held by the literati of Europe ; 
and we find that his reputation had extended into Asia. 
From the manner in which he mentions his renuncia¬ 
tion of the embassy to Constantinople, it is evident that 
his attention was strongly fixed upon the political state 
of his country. 

The Andrometer , mentioned, by Lady Spencer, to 
have been invented by Mr. Jones, affords a striking 
specimen of the extent of his view's, in the acquisition 
of intellectual excellence. It may be defined, a scale of 
human attainments and enjoyment. He assumes seventy 
years, as the limit of exertion or enjoyment; and with a 
view to progressive improvement, each year is appro¬ 
priated to a particular study or occupation. The ar¬ 
rangement of what was to be learned, or practised, dur¬ 
ing this period, admits of a fourfold division. 

The first, comprising thirty years, is assigned to the 
acquisition of knowledge, as preparatory to active occu¬ 
pation. 

The second, of twenty years, is dedicated principally 
to public and professional employment. 

Of the third, which contains ten years, the first five 
are allotted to literary and scientific composition; and 
the remainder to the continuation of former pursuits. 

The last ten, constituting the fourth division, which 
begins with the sixty-first year, are devoted to the enjoy¬ 
ment of the fruits of his labours ; and the conclusion of 
the whole is specified to be a preparation for eternity. 

The Andrometer is to be considered as a mere 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


139 


sketch, never intended for publication. In the construc¬ 
tion of it, Mr. Jones, probably, had a view to those 

objects, the attainment of which he then meditated. 

We are not to conclude that the preparation for eter¬ 
nity, which stands at the top of the scale, was to be 
deferred until the seventieth year ; it is rather to be 
considered as the object to which he was perpetually to 
look, during the whole course of his life, and which 
was exclusively to engross the attention of his latter 
years. He was too well convinced of the precarious 
tenure of human existence, to allow himself to rest the 
momentous concern of his eternal welfare on the falla¬ 
cious expectation of a protracted life : he knew, more¬ 
over, too well the power of habit, to admit a supposi¬ 
tion that it could be effectually resisted or changed at 
the close of life. Neither are we to suppose that moral 
and religious lessons, which constitute the occupation 
of the eighth year, were from that period to be discon¬ 
tinued, although they are not afterwards mentioned; 
but the meaning of Mr. Jones probably was, that it 
should be seriously and regularly inculcated at an age 
when the intellectual faculties had acquired strength 
and expansion by preceding exercises. That the order 
of arrangement, in the Andrometer, could never be 
strictly adhered to, in the application of our time, and 
cultivation of our talents (if it were intended), is evi¬ 
dent; but to those who, from their situation, are enabled 
to avail themselves of the suggestions which it fur¬ 
nishes, it will supply useful hints for improvement, and 

serve as a standard of comparison for their progress. 

With respect to Mr. Jones himself, if his own acquisi¬ 
tions in his thirtieth year, when he constructed the 
Andrometer, be compared with it, they will be found 
to rise to a higher degree in the scale. 

With these explanations, I present it to the reader, re¬ 
versing, for the sake of convenience, the order of the scale. 




1 

,5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


ANDROMETER. 


3 | 6 | 9 | 12 


— Ideas received through the senses. 

— Speaking and pronunciation. 

• Letters and spelling. 

—^ Ideas retained in the memory. 

— Reading and repeating. 

— Grammar of his own language. 

-— Memory exercised. 

— Moral and religious lessons. 

— Natural history and experiments. 

— Dancing, music, drawing, exercises. 

I— History of his own country. 

j— Latin. 

— Greek. 

French and Italian. 

• Translations. 

— Compositions in verse and prose. 
Rhetoric and declamation. 

History and law. 

— Logic and mathematics. 

— Rhetorical exercises. 

— Philosophy and politics. 

— Compositions in his own language. 

— Declamations continued. 

— Ancient orators studied. 

— Travel and conversation. 

— Speeches at the bar or in parliament. 
State affairs. 

Historical studies continued. 

Law and eloquence. 

Public life. 

Private and social virtues. 

— Habits of eloquence improved. 

— Philosophy resumed at leisure. 
Orations published. 

— Exertions in state and parliament. 
Civil knowledge mature. 

Eloquence perfect. 

National rights defended. 

The learned protected. 

The virtuous assisted. 

Compositions published. 

— Science improved. 

— Parliamentarv affairs. 





















































SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


141 


45 


50 


55 


60 


65 


70 



— Laws enacted and supported. 

— Fine arts patronized. 

— Government of his family. 

— Education of his children. 

— Vigilance as a magistrate. 

— Firmness as a patriot. 

— Virtue as a citizen. 

— Historical works. 

— Oratorical works. 

— Philosophical works. 

-— Political works. 

— Mathematical works. 


Continuation of former pursuits. 


— Fruits of his labours enjoyed. 

— A glorious retirement. 

— An amiable family. 

— Universal respect. 

— Consciousness of a virtuous life. 



Perfection of earthly happiness. 


— Preparation for eternity. 


I have mentioned that Mr. Jones was called to the 
bar in 1774; but he declined practice. From this period 
however, he seems to have been fully sensible of the ne¬ 
cessity of devoting himself exclusively to his legal stu ¬ 
dies. The ambition of obtaining distinction in his pro¬ 
fession could not fail to animate a mind always ardent 
in the pursuit of the objects which it had in view, nod' 
was he of a temper to be satisfied with mediocrity, where 
perfection was attainable. His researches and studies 
were not confined to any one branch of jurisprudence, 
but embraced the whole, in its fullest extent. He com¬ 
pared the doctrines and principles of ancient legislators 
with the later improvements in the science of law; he 





























142 . 


MEMOIRS of the life of 


collated the various codes of the different states of ii.ii- 
rope, and collected professional knowledge wherever it 
was to be found. If the reader recollects the enthusiasm 
displayed by Mr. Jones in the prosecution of his Orien¬ 
tal studies, the extent and depth of his attainments in 
the literature of Asia, and the high reputation which he 
had acquired from them, he will readily applaud his re¬ 
solution and perseverance in renouncing his favourite 
pursuits. That he acted wisely will be admitted; but the 
sacrifice of inclination to duty affords an example of too 
great use and importance to pass without particular ob¬ 
servation. 

In 1775, for the first time, he attended the spring 
circuit and sessions at Oxford; but whether as a spec¬ 
tator, or actor, on that occasion, I am not informed. In 
the following year he was regular in his attendance at 
Westminster-Hall. 

The only part of his correspondence, of this year, 
which I possess, is a letter to his friend, Schultens; and 
I insert it as a memorial of an incident in his life. 

* Mr. Jones to H. A. Schultens. 

December , 1776. 

Behold me now no longer a free man; me, who 
ever considered perfect liberty superior to every thing! 
Under the impression of the most eager desire to see 
you, I promised to visit Amsterdam this year, but I 
am detained in London by various and important occu¬ 
pations. The fact is, that I am appointed one of the 
sixty commissioners of bankrupts. It is an office of 
great use, but little emolument: it confines me, however, 
to London during the greatest part of the year. Add to 
this my necessary studies, my practice at the bar, and 


Appendix,. No. 32. 


14* 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

the duty of giving opinions on legal cases submitted by- 
clients. However, I read the Grecian orators again and 
again, and have translated into English the most useful 
orations ofls^us. How go on Meidani and Hariri? 
Continue, I beseech you, your labours upon them, with 
due regard however to your health. 

* * # # ' * 

Notwithstanding the encreasing application of Mr. 
Jones to the duties and studies of his profession, and his 
attention to political transactions, the philosophical dis¬ 
coveries of the times did not escape his observation. 
The hopes and fears of the nation were at this period 
anxiously engaged in the event of the unfortunate con¬ 
test, which had taken place between the mother country 
and her colonies; and whilst the justice of the war, and 
the expectation of a successful conclusion of it, were 
maintained by one party, by another their sentiments 
were opposed, and their measures arraigned and con¬ 
demned. But it is no part of my plan to invade the 
province of the historian by discussing the questions of 
those times. These cursory remarks are chiefly intro¬ 
duced as preliminary to the insertion of two letters from 
Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe, with whom he continued 
to cultivate that friendship which had so naturally been 
formed between the tutor and the pupil. I addalso a short 
letter to Schultens, in answer to one which Mr. Jones 
had received from him, requesting him to assist, by his 
own contributions, a new publication then on foot in Hol¬ 
land, and complaining of his finances in a style calcu¬ 
lated to console his friend for renouncing the haunts of 
the muses for the thorny but more productive field of 
the law. 


144 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe . 

Temple , Nwo. 13. 

As I have a few minutes of leisure this evening, 
can I employ them better than in writing to my friend ? 
I hasten, my dear Lord, to impart to you the pleasure I 
received to day, from seeing a series of experiments ex¬ 
hibited by Mr. Walsh on the American eel, by which 
he clearly proved that the aminal has a sensation wholly 
distinct from any of the five senses. When he announced 
the proposition to be demonstrated, I thought it might 
possibly be true, but could not conceive how a new 
sense could be made perceptible to any sense of mine; 
as I imagined it would be like talking to a deaf man of 
harmonic sounds, or to one who had no palate, of necta¬ 
rines and pine-apples; but he produced the fullest convic¬ 
tion in me, that his position was in a degree just. His first 
experiment was by fixing four wires, about two inches 
in the water where the fish was swimming, one in each 
quarter of the elliptical trough; each of these wires com¬ 
municated with a large glass of water placed on a table 
at a little distance, though the distance signified nothing, 
for the experiment, had the wires been long enough, 
might have been conducted in another room. While the 
four glasses remained separate, the gymnotus (for that 
is his technical name) was perfectly insensible of the 
wires; but in the very instant when a communication 
was made by an instrument between any two of the 
glasses, he seemed to start, and swam directly to the 
wires which were thus joined, paying no attention to the 
others, till a junction was made between them also. 
This could not be sight, because he did not se<p the 
wires while they were insulated, though they were equal¬ 
ly conspicuous; it could not be feeling (at least not like 
our feeling) because the water was not in the least agi- 


145 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

tated, still less could it be hearing, and least of all smell, 
or taste. It was therefore a distinct electrical sense of 
feeling, or power of conceiving any stronger conductor 
than the water around him; for which reason he did not 
perceive the wires till their junction, because they were 
at the extremities of the tub, and so little in the water, 
that they were less powerful conductors. Several other 
experiments were exhibited with equal success; one of 
them only I will mention. A triangular instrument of 
brass was held over the tub, and one of the legs placed 
gently in the water, to which the fish was wholly inat¬ 
tentive, though he swam close to it; but when the other 
leg was immersed to complete the circulation, he in¬ 
stantly started. It is by this faculty that the wonderful 
animal has notice of his prey, and of his enemies. These 
are pleasant amusements, and objects of a just curiosity 
when they fall occasionally in our way, but such expe¬ 
riments might have been exhibited at Paris, Madrid, or 
Petersburg!!, where the philosophers, who are discover¬ 
ing new senses in other aminals, are not permitted to 
use their own freely; and believe me, my dear Lord, it 
is not by electrical experiments, nor by triangular in¬ 
struments, nor by conductors of wire, that we shall be 
able to avert the black storm which hangs over us. Let 
you and me, therefore, be philosophers now and then, 
but citizens always; let us sometimes observe with 
eagerness the satellites of Jupiter, but let us incessantly 
watch with jealousy the satellites of the king. Do you 
hear any certain intelligence concerning America? Mr. 
Owen Cambridge has just informed me, that a New- 
York Gazette is brought over, in which the late uncer¬ 
tain accounts are confirmed in their full extent, with 
this important addition, that three counties of Maryland 
have offered not only submission, but assistance, to Ge¬ 
neral How r e. This may, or may not be true....Farewel, 


146 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe. 

November 22. 

I rejoice, my dear friend, that you have acquired 
that ingenuous distrust, which Epicharmus calls a 
sinew of wisdom. It is certain that doubt impels us to 
enquire, and enquiry often ends in conviction. You 
will be able when you come to London, to examine 
with the minutest scrupulosity , as Johnson would call it, 
the properties of that singular animal, who is, in the 
rivers of South America, what Jupiter was feigned to 
be among the gods, a darter of lightning , and should be 
named instead of gymnotus. He certainly 

has (if an academic may venture to affirm any thing) a 
mode of perception peculiar to himself; but whether 
that perception can properly be called a new sense , I 
leave you to determine: it is a modification indeed of 
feeling,\but are not ail our senses so?|l desire however, 
that in this and in every thing, you will form your own 
judgment. As to the nxAyftnrU of our noble Consti¬ 
tution, which has happily presented itself to your 
imagination, the very idea fixes me with rapture. No, 
my dear lord, never believe that any thing is impossible 
to virtue; no, if ten sufch as you conceive such senti¬ 
ments as your letter contains, and express them as 
forcibly, if you retain these sentiments, as you certainly 
will, when you take your place in parliament, I will 
not despair of seeing the most glorious of sights, a 
nation frdely governed by its own laws. This 1 promise, 
that, if such a decemvirate should ever attempt to 
restore our constitutional liberty by constitutional 
means, I would exert, in their cause, such talents as .1 
have, and, even if I were oppressed with sickness, and 
torn with pain, would start from my couch, and exclaim, 


147 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

with Trebonius, “ if you mean to act worthily, O Ro¬ 
mans! I am well.” The speech you find, was composed 
and delivered without my news about Maryland, it is* 
Aoy«s f*xxct[4.ovup%tKc<; $-pocTt&)Tuo$, and breathes a deliberate 
firmness. Lord Chatham spoke with a noble vigour for a 
veteran orator, and your bishop pronounced an elegant 
harangue: I wish Lord Granby had more courage as a 
public speaker; all men speak highly of him, but he will 
never be eloquent, till he is less modest. Charles Fox 
poured forth with amazing rapidity a continued invec¬ 
tive against Lord G. Germaine, and Burke w T as so 
pathetic, that many declare they saw him shed tears. 
The ministers in both houses were sullen and reserved, 
but Lord Sandwich boldly contradicted the Duke of 
Richmond on the state of the navy. I grieve that our 
senate is dwindled into a school of rhetoric, where men 
rise to display their abilities rather than to deliberate, 
anti wish to be admired without hoping to convince. 
Adieu, my dear Lord, I steal these few moments from 
a dry legal investigation, but I could not defer the 
pleasure of answering a letter which gave me inexpres¬ 
sible delight. 

t H. A. Schultens to Mr, Jones, 

May , 1777. 

I know not how to express my delight at the re¬ 
ceipt of your short, but very friendly and obliging 
letter. I take shame to myself at having so long delayed 
the acknowledgment of it, and you might indeed justly 
censure me, for an apparent forgetfulness of your kind¬ 
ness towards me. This would indeed be a most serious 
accusation, which I cannot in any degree admit; I wish 
I could as fairly exculpate myself from the charge of 


Too despotic and military. 


f Appendix, No. 33. 


148 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


negligence. You have now, my friend, my confession, 
but you will pardon me in consideration of my promise 
to be more attentive in future. I may indeed plead 
occupations so incessant, that they scarcely allow me 
time to breathe, and have often compelled me to defer 
writing to you, when 1 most seriously intended it; you 
will the more readily admit this apology, when I tell 
you, that for five months I have never once thought of 
Meidani. 

I have now a little respite, and mean soon to resume 
my work, which has been so long interrupted; the sin¬ 
gular kindness of the superintendants of the library at 
Leyden, by permitting me to take home for my use, and 
retain as long as I please, not only the manuscript of 
Meidani, but any others which I may want, will much 
diminish the weight of my labour. With this assistance 
I shall proceed as fast as my other employments allow 
to copy the manuscript, finish the indexes, which are 
absolutely necessary to such a work, and add whatever 
is wanted to render it as elegant and complete as pos¬ 
sible.... it gradually advances. I most heartily wish it 
were in my power to bestow upon this favourite work, 
those hours which I am obliged most reluctantly to give 
to my various public and private lectures; but I foresee 
that it will still require three or four years of hard la¬ 
bour to collect such an ample stock of materials, as will 
enable me to deliver my lectures fluently without much 
previous study, or “ to shake them out of a bag,” as 
the phrase is. In the mean time, Hariri lies untouched, 
the Arabic poets are neglected, and the soft and elegant 
literature of Persia, which above all I sincerely regret, 
remains unexplored ; such however is the ardour with 
which you have inspired me, that I am determined, if 
I enjoy life and health, at all hazards, and at the risk of 
singularity, to devote myself to the acquisition of it. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 149 

I almost however despair of publishing Hariri. I had 
determined to give the text only from the best procur¬ 
able manuscripts, annexing to it the translation of my 
grandfather, which is complete. This I should be able 
to accomplish with little sacrifice of time, and without 
neglecting other business, I could give the public an 
useful work. But there are some to whose judgment, 
as well as inclination, I owe much deference, who dis¬ 
approve of this plan, and advise me not to publish the 
work, without extracts from Tebrizi and other gramma¬ 
rians, nor even without my own annotations. Though 
I do not agree with them, I must submit to their au¬ 
thority, at the necessity of protracting the publication, 
till I can give it as they wish. 

Schedius has lately published the first part of Jao- 
hari’s Lexicon, consisting of about two hundred pages. 
He calculates that the whole work will not be comprised 
in less than ten volumes of a thousand pages each. 
Opinions about it are various. He himself foresees so 
little impediment in completing this immense work, 
that he even talks of publishing Phiruzbadi, &c. but 
others consider the obstacles so insuperable, that they 
think it never will be finished, unless it should rain 
gold upon him. This is all relating to the Arabic that 
is now going on amongst us, excepting a glossary to 
Hariri, Arab Shah, and the Coran, which Mr. Wilmot, 
a young, but learned, theologian, has undertaken. It 
will be very useful to beginners, who from the difficulty 
and expense of procuring Goiius, are deterred from the 
study of the language. Latin and Greek literature 
receive more encouragement here. This neither ex¬ 
cites my envy nor surprise, but I should be still more 
reconciled to it, if some small part of this patronage 
were to overflow upon the Orientalists. Ruhnkenius is 
at work upon Velleius Paterculus, Burman on Pro- 


150 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


pertius, Wyttenbach on Plutarch, Tollius upon the 
Homeric Lexicon of Apollonius, an edition of which 
has been published by Villoison in France. The epistles 
of Phalaris, respecting the author of which your coun¬ 
trymen Boyle and Bentley had such a controversy, will 
soon be published. Have you seen the very elegant 
Essay of Ruhnkenius on the Life and Writings of Lon¬ 
ginus? Many copies have been sent to England....if 
you wish to have one, I will take an opportunity of pro¬ 
curing it for you. In the course of a few w T eeks, a 
critical miscellany will appear, and it is intended to 
publish two or three numbers of it annually. This pub¬ 
lication has a double view. To notice the best new 
books on every subject which relate to learned antiqui¬ 
ty, and to introduce occasionally new and unpublished 
compositions. The authors are unknown, or rather 
wish to be so, for some of them will certainly be disco¬ 
vered by their superior erudition, and uncommon ele¬ 
gance of style. I am sufficiently acquainted with them, 
to affirm confidently that the work will please you. 
With some of the persons concerned in it, I am inti¬ 
mately connected, and they have requested me to re¬ 
commend them to some London bookseller, to whom 
a few copies may be sent for sale. For this purpose, 
I have thought of Elmsley, who will probably have no 
objection to try the success of the work in England, 
by taking twenty or even fewer copies. I wish how¬ 
ever in the first place to mention the business to you, 
that Elmsley, or some other by your interest, may be 
the more readily induced to undertake it. There is 
also another favour of more importance, which my 
friends, through my agency, anxiously hope to obtain 
from you; the circumstance is this: upon their expres¬ 
sing a wish that thtir miscellany should contain extracts 
from Oriental authors, particularly Persic and Arabic, 


151 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

I recommended to them, as there are but few works of 
this nature, and still fewer worthy of notice, that they 
should leave a space for short dissertations, under the 
head of tracts, or essays, or any other title, by which 
they may be communicated, as a means of promoting 
these studies. I promised for my own part, to con¬ 
tribute some biographical memoirs from Eben Chali 
Khan, if they should have nothing better to insert. 
They approved my advice, and earnestly entreated me 
to prevail upon you to furnish them with some essays 
of this kind, adding, that they would prove the greatest 
ornament and recommendation of this part of the work, 
and that if I really enjoyed your friendship, which I 
was perpetually assorting, I could not fail of obtaining 
this favour from you. You see, my friend, to what I 
have been led, by boasting of your regard for me. I 
have yielded the more readily to their solicitations, in 
the hopes of retrieving by it in some degree, the heavy 
loss which we sustained in you. I therefore most 
earnestly entreat and beseech you, by your ancient love 
of the Oriental muses, who so feelingly and fondly 
regret you, not to omit any convenient opportunity of 
gratifying our wishes. Examine your shelves....you 
will find many things ready, and sufficiently perfect for 
publication. Whatever you send will be most accept¬ 
able, and it shall appear in our miscellany with or with¬ 
out your name, as you may think proper. If you have 
any thing in English, and want time to turn it into 
Latin, I will readily undertake the translation of it, and 
submit it to the examination of others who are better 
scholars than myself, that your reputation may suffer 
no impeachment from it. Nothing shall be added, 
omitted, or changed, but it shall appear exactly as you 
send it; to this if you think it necessary, I will pledge 
my word. I hope it will not be inconvenient to you 


152 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


to favour me with an early reply to this letter, and I 
rely upon your obliging acquiescence in our request. 

I congratulate you upon your new office, as an intro¬ 
duction to something more honourable and lucrative; 
and as to the loss of your liberty, I regret it rather 
on my account, than on yours. No one, not even 
an Englishman, can object to service for the public 
good, which is the just recompense of virtue and merit. 
To me however your confinement is grievous, for if 
I was disappointed in the expectation of seeing you 
when you were your own master, I can scarcely now 
indulge a distant hope of that pleasure. Do not how¬ 
ever leave me in despair: you have fifty-nine associates; 
some interval of leisure may occur, and if it should, do 
not neglect it, but run over and make us happy by the 
enjoyment of your company and conversation. It is 
noi^ from want of inclination that I do not pay you 
another visit; the recollection of the pleasure I had in 
your society, is so strongly impressed upon me, that I 
have nothing more anxiously at heart, than to fly over to 
you with all speed, that I may again enjoy it. Neither 
is it w T ant of time, that detains me, for my office 
which exclusively occupies me for nine months, leaves 
me at liberty the remaining three. What is it then? 
I will tell you the truth, nor blush to reveal to my friend, 
“ that when my purse is heavier, I shall find the jour- 
“ ney to you lighter.”-* 

The soil of Oriental literature in Holland, as else¬ 
where, is barren ; it produces only the mere conveni¬ 
ences of life, but no superfluities whatever. I must, 
therefore, defer all hope of accomplishing a journey to 
England, without some unexpected improvement of 
my circumstances. I shall, however, bear my lot, 


An Arabic proverb, adapted to the situation of the writer. 


153 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

whatever it may be, with patience. Having mentioned 
this subject to you, I will add something in which you 
may essentially serve me. With a view to improving 
my fortune, and procuring that affluence, which, though 
it may be dispensed with, is most acceptable to those 
who possess it, I have determined to undertake the 
charge of a pupil, to receive him into my house and 
superintend his morals and education. I am particularly 
anxious, however, that he should be of your country, 
not only because the system of private education is little 
known or followed here, but because it would be more 
agreeable to me to part with my liberty to an English¬ 
man, (you see how openly I speak) from whom I might 
expect a more substantial recompense. My paper will 
not allow me to say much more. Oblige me with a few 
lines in reply ; I am certain you will willingly assist 
me as far as you can, and you may depend upon the 
strictest attention on my part, to any request from you 
which I can possibly execute. My wife sends her best 
compliments to your excellent mother and sister. Fare- 
wel, my dear Jones, and continue to honour me with 
your esteem. 

H. A. ScHULTENS. 

* * * * * 

At an interval of more than thirty-five years from 
the date of this letter, I cannot but acknowledge a dis¬ 
position to sympathize with the feelings of the learned 
writer, and participate the regret which he expresses, 
at the deprivation of the society of his friend, from his 
want of means to defray the expense of a journey to Eng¬ 
land. At this period Schultens enjoyed an extensive re¬ 
putation, and was, perhaps, the object of envy to many, 
who, without any claim to distinction, possessed that 
opulence which, with all his indefatigable labours in cul- 


Y 


154 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

tivating and promoting literature, he had not been able 
to procure. We feel the more for him, because his 
complaints (if the confidential communication of his 
circumstances authorize the expression) are neither 
deficient in dignity nor resignation. In truth, the tract 
of literature, which he had chosen to cultivate, was 
more calculated to produce a harvest of celebrity than 
profit. 

* Mr Jones to H. A. Schultens. 

July , 1777. 

I should have great pleasure in complying with 
your kind and friendly request, by furnishing my con¬ 
tribution to the new work which is soon to appear 
amongst you, and would exert myself for this purpose, 
but the absolute want of leisure makes it impossible.... 
My law employments, attendance in the courts, inces¬ 
sant studies, the arrangement of pleadings, trials of 
causes, and opinions to clients, scarcely allow me a few 
moments for eating and sleeping. I thank you sincerely 
for your very entertaining account of your own occupa¬ 
tions, and of what is going on in your country. If I 
should hear of any wealthy Englishman, who wishes to 
send his son as a pupil to Holland, to study literature, 
you may rely upon my recommendation of your merits, 
as well as upon my assistance on all occasions. I must, 
however, at the same time, tell you, that an opportunity 
of this nature is very uncertain. 

Mr. Jones to Lord Alhorpe. 

my deap v lord, Bath , Dec. 28, 1777. 

I told you, when I had the pleasure of seeing you 


Appendix, No, 34; 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 155 

in London, that it was doubtful whether I should pass 
my vacation at Amsterdam or at Bath ; the naiads of 
the hot springs have prevailed, you se£, over the nymphs 
of the lakes, and I have been drinking the waters for a 
month, with no less pleasure than advantage to my health, 
the improvement of which I ascribe, however, in great 
measure, to my regular exercise on the downs, and to 
abstinence from any study that requires too much exer¬ 
tion of the mind. I should have skated indeed in Holland 
from town to town, and a little voyage would have dissi¬ 
pated my bile, if I had any, but that scheme I must 
postpone till another winter, and I have sent an excuse 
to my Dutch friend who expected me. 

As I came hither entirely for the purpose of recreat¬ 
ing my exhausted spirits and strengthening my stomach, 

| I have abstained with some reluctance from dancing, an 
amusement which I am as fond of as ever, but which 
would be too heating for a water- drinker ; and as for the 
idler diversions of a public place, they have not the 
recommendation of novelty, without which they cannot 
long please. You, my dear friend, are in the mean 
time relaxing yourself, from the severer pursuits of 
science and civil knowledge, with the healthy and 
manly exercise of the field, from which you will return 
with a keener appetite to the noble feast which the 
muses are again preparing for you at Cambridge. And 
here, byway of parenthesis, I must tell you that I joined 
a small party of hunters the other morning, and was in 
at the death of the hare ; but I must confess, that I think 
hare-hunting a very dull exercise, and fit rather for a 
huntress than a mighty hunter, rather for Diana than 
Orion. Had I the taste and vigour of Actaeon, without 
his indiscreet curiosity, my game would be the stag of 
the fox, and I should leave the hare in peace, without 
sending her to her many friends. This heresy of mine 


156 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


may arise from my fondness for every thing vast, and 
my disdain of every thing little, and for the same reason 
I should prefer the more violent sport of the Asiatics, 
who enclose a whole district with toils, and then attack 
the tygers and leopards with javelins, to the sound of 
trumpets and clarions. Of music, I conclude, you 
have as pnUch at Althorpe, as your heart can desire; I 
might here have more than my ears could bear, or my 
mind conceive, for we have with us La Motte, Fischer, 
Rauzzini; but, as I live in the house of my old master, 
Evans, whom you remember, I am satisfied with his 
harp, which I prefer to the Theban lyre, as much as I 
prefer Wales to ancient or modern Egypt. 

I was this morning with Wilkes, who shewed me a 
letter lately written to him from Paris, by Diderot; as I 
have, you know, a quick memory, I brought away the 
substance of it, and give it to you in a translation 
almost literal....“ Friend Wilkes, it delights me to hear 
il that you still have sufficient employment for your 
“ active mind, without which you cannot long be 
“ happy. I have just read the several speeches which 
£< you havedelivered on the subject of your present war 
“ against the provincials; they are full of eloquence, 
“ force and dignity. I too have composed a speech on 
“ the same subject, which I would deliver in your 
“ senate, had I a seat in it. I will wave for the present, 
“ my countrymen, all consideration of the justice or in- 
“ justice of the measures you are pursuing ; I well 
C£ know that to be an improper topic at the time when 
“ the public welfare is immediately concerned. I will 
££ not even question at present your power to reduce an 
££ exasperated and desperate people, but consider, I 
t£ entreat you, that you are surrounded by nations by 
££ whom you are detested; and say, for heaven’s sake, 
“ how long you will give them reason to laugh at the 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 157 

“ ridiculous figure you are making.” This is my 
harangue; it is short in words, but extensive in mean¬ 
ing.... So far, my dear lord, we have no reason to cen¬ 
sure the thoughts or expressions of the learned Ency¬ 
clopedist; what follows is so profligate, that I would not 
transcribe it, if I were not sure that you would join with 
me in condemning it. “ As to yourself (he adds) be 
t4 cheerful, drink the best wines, keep the gayest 
<c company, and should you be inclined to a tender 
44 passion, address yourself to such women as make the 
“ least resistance; they are as amusing and as interest- 
“ ing as others. One lives with them without anxiety, 
“ and quits them without regret.”....! want words, 
Diderot, to excess the baseness, the folly, the brutality 
of this sentiment. I am no cynic, but as fond as any 
man at Paris of cheerful company, and of such pleasures 
as a man of virtue need not blush to enjoy; but if the 
philosophy of the French academicians be comprised 
in your advice to your friend Wilkes, keep it to your¬ 
self, and to such as you. I am of a different sect. He 
concludes his letter with some professions of regard, 
and with a recommendation of a young Frenchman, who 
told Wilkes some speeches of Diderot, to the empress 
of Russia, which you shall hear at some other time. I 
am interrupted and must leave you with reluctance till 
the morning. 

# * -*• ' * * 

An apology, I trust, will not be thought necessary 
for introducing that passage in Diderot’s letter, which 
Mr. Jones reprobates in terms of asperity and indigna¬ 
tion suitable to the rectitude of his own mind. His 
remarks upon it will serve to explain, if it be at all ne¬ 
cessary, certain expressions in his letters, which maybe 
thought to border upon a levity that never entered into 
the composition of his character. His mind was never 


158 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


tainted with vice, nor was the morality of his conduct 
ever impeached. He valued the pleasures of society, 
and enjoyed them as long as they were innocent, whilst 
he detested the principles and practice of the debauchee 
and sensualist; and, like his favourite Hafez, could amuse 
his leisure hours with poetical compositions in praise 
of love or beauty, without sacrificing his health, his 
time, or his virtue. His censure of Diderot is equally 
a proof of his own abhorrence of vice, and of his anxiety 
to impress it strongly on the mind of his friend and late 
pupil.* 

In 1778, Mr. Jones published a translation of the 
speeches of Isasus, in causes concerning the law of 
succession to property at Athens, with a prefatory dis¬ 
course, notes critical and historical, and a commentary. 

* Of Diderot, thus casually introduced to the notice of the reader, it 
may not be irrelevant to give a short account. His works I have never 
read, nor, from the character of the man, have any wish to peruse them. 
Diderot (I take my information from the Abbe Baruel) was one of the 
gang of conspirators against the Christian religion. He not only pro¬ 
fessed atheism, but made a boast of it, and inculcated it in his writings. 
He was invited to Russia, by the empress Catharine, who at first ad¬ 
mired his genius, but soon found sufficient reason in his conduct and prin¬ 
ciples to send him back to France. 

There were moments in which this professed friend and admirer of 
Voltaire, notwithstanding his avowed impiety, seems to have been com¬ 
pelled by the force of truth to pay homage to the New Testament. Ail 
acquaintance found him one day explaining a chapter of it to his daughter, 
with all the apparent seriousness and energy of a believer. On expres¬ 
sing his surprise,Diderot replied, u I understand your meaning; but after 
u all, where is it possible to find better lessons for her instruction?” The 
devils believe and tremble. 

At the close of a life of profligacy and impiety, consistent with the 
sentiments expressed inhis letter to Wilkes, Diderot shewed some signs 
of contrition, and even went so far as to declare an intention of publicly 
recanting his errors. But the barbarity of his philosophic friends in¬ 
terfered to prevent it, and they resolved, as far as they could, that he 
should die without repentance. Under the pretence that a change of 
air would promote his restoration to health, they secretly removed hins\ 
into the country, and never left him until he expired, in July 1784. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 159 

The works of Isaeus had long been neglected; the sub¬ 
ject of them was dry, and his technical language, as Mr. 
Jones observes, was unintelligible to the herd of gram¬ 
marians and philologers, by whom the old monuments 
of Grecian learning were saved from destruction. To 
rescue them from obscurity, and to present them to the 
student of our English laws in his native language, was x 
a task which required the united qualifications of classi¬ 
cal erudition and legal knowledge, and which he dis¬ 
charged with equal pleasure and success. 

“ There is no branch of learning, from which a stu- 
“ dent of the law may receive a more rational pleasure, 
“ or which seems more likely to prevent his being 
“ disgusted with the dry elements of a very complicated 
“ science, than the history of the rules and ordinances 
“ by which nations, 'eminent for wisdom, and illus- 
“ trious in arts, have regulated their civil polity : nor 
“ is this the only fruit that he may expect to reap from 
“ a general knowledge of foreign laws, both ancient and 
“ modern ; for, whilst he indulges the liberal curiosity 
“ of a scholar, in examining the customs and institu- 
“ tions of men, whose works have yielded him the 
“ highest delight, and whose actions have raised his 
“ admiration, he will feel the satisfaction of a patriot, in 
“ observing the preference due in most instances to the 
“ laws of his own country above those of all other 
“ states ; or, if his just prospects in life give him hopes 
“ of becoming a legislator, he may collect many useful 
“ hints, for the improvement even of that fabric, which 
<c his ancestors have erected with infinite exertions of 

virtue and genius, but which, like all human systems, 

“ will ever advance nearer to perfection, and ever fall 
“ short of it.” 

I quote the preceding observations from his prefatory 
discourse, which is written with uncommon elegance, 


160 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


and is particularly interesting, not onlyTrom the informa¬ 
tion which it contains, respecting the author whose 
works he illustrated, but for its critical remarks on the 
comparative merits of the Grecian orators, and for his 
dissertation on the Attic laws of succession, and the 
forms of pleading in the Athenian courts. It w r as no 
small credit to Mr. Jones to have successfully accom¬ 
plished what Sir Mathew Hale, “ to whose learning 
“ and diligence the present age is no less indebted than 
“ his contemporaries were to his wisdom and virtue,” 
had unsuccessfully attempted. 

The works of Isseus are dedicated to Earl Bathurst; 
and Mr. Jones takes occasion, in the epistle dedicatory, 
to inform the public that, although he had received 
many signal marks of friendship from a number of illus¬ 
trious persons, Lord Bathurst had been his greatest, his 
only, benefactor ; that, without any solicitation, or even 
request, on his part, his lordship gave him a substantial 
and permanent token of regard, rendered still more 
valuable by the obliging manner of giving it, and lite¬ 
rally the sole fruit which he had gathered from an in¬ 
cessant course of very painful labour. He adds his 
further acknowledgments for the more extended inten¬ 
tions of his lordship, although he had not then derived 
any benefit from them. 

This was the only publication of Mr. Jones, in 1778, 
which, however it might tend to encrease his reputation, 
did not perhaps much advance his professional success. 
He had, however, every reason to be satisfied with the 
proportion of business that fell to his share, during the 
circuits which he regularly attended. 

Mr. Jones had transmitted a copy of his translation 
to Edmund Burke; and the following letter contains his 
acknowledgment of the favour. The opinion of a great 
orator, on any subject connected with that of his 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 161 

constant meditatibns, will not be read without interest. 

MY DEAR SIR, . March 12, 1779. 

I give you many thanks for your most obliging 
and valuable present, and feel myself extremely honoured 
by this mark of your friendship. My first leisure will 
be employed in an attentive perusal of an author, who 
had merit enough to fill up a part of yours, and whom 
you have made accessible to me with an ease and ad¬ 
vantage, which one so many years disused to Greek 
literature as I have been, could not otherwise have. 
Isasus is an author; of whom I know nothing but by 
fame; I am sure th&t any idea I had from thence con¬ 
ceived of him will not be at all lessened by seeing him 
in your translation. I do not know how it has happened, 
that orators have hitherto fared worse in the hands of 
the translators, than even the poets ; I never could bear i 
to read a translation of Cicero. Demosthenes suffers \ v - 
I think somewhat less....but he suffers greatly ; so 
much, that I must say, that no English reader could 
well conceive from whence he had acquired the reputa¬ 
tion of the first of orators. I am satisfied that there is 
now an eminent exception to this rule, and I sincerely 
congratulate the public on that acquisition. I am with 
the greatest truth and regard, my dear Sir, 

Your most faithful and obliged humble servant, 

Edmund Burke. 

Of the incidents in the life of Mr. Jones, during the 
years 1778 and 1779, I have no particular information; 
we may suppose his time and attention to have been 
principally engrossed by his professional duties and 
studies, and the political circumstances of the times. 

His own letters, always interesting, and often instruc¬ 
tive, with those of his correspondents, contain all that I 

z 


162 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


know of him during this period ; the latter afford addi¬ 
tional evidence of the esteem in which his learning, 
abilities, and principles, were held by men of high repu¬ 
tation in the rank of literature. 

Mr. Swinney to Mr. Jones. 
sir, Per a of Constantinople , January 1, 1778. 

So high an opinion do I entertain of your huma¬ 
nity and politeness, as to persuade myself you will 
readily pardon the liberty I have taken of sending you a 
Persian and Grecian manuscript. If, on perusal of one 
or the other book, you shall meet with a single passage 
that may contribute either to your instruction or amuse¬ 
ment, my purpose will be fully answered. 

Among the real curiosities I have seen at Constanti¬ 
nople, is a public museum, erected at the sole expense 
of a most learned Grand Visir, whose name and title 
was Rajib Pacha. This collection contains about two 
thousand Arabian, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts, 
which the learned say contain vast stores of erudition. 
It is not improbable but I may be able, on some favour¬ 
able occasion, to procure you a copy of the catalogue ; 
and then, should you be disposed to have any of the 
manuscripts copied, I entreat you will confer the honor 
upon me of executing the commission. People assure 
me, but I dare not say whether with good authority or 
no, that the entire Decades of Livy, and the complete 
History of Curtins, are contained in that very precious 
repository : if so, who knows but majesty itself (so 
superlatively happy are we in a monarch who favors the 
arts and sciences !) may graciously condescend to com¬ 
mand a copy of them ? 

Be pleased to accept of my warmest wishes for your 
health, prosperity, and very long life ; and believe me 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


163 


to be (what I sincerely am) a lasting admirer of your 
abilities ; and at the same time, dear Sir, &c. 

Sidney Swinney. 

Dr. Stuart to Mr. Jones. 

my dear sir, October , 3d. 1778. , 

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your most oblig¬ 
ing letter. It is impossible for me to express the value in 
which I hold the favourable sentiments you have con¬ 
veyed to me; and above all, that strain of cordiality and 
friendship which accpmpany them. The loss of that 
long letter, or dissertation, into which my performance 
was about to entice you, is a matter of infinite regret to 
me; but I hope that the object which then engaged 
more particularly your attention, and which was so 
worthy of it, is now within your reach ; that the fates 
are to comply with your desires, and to place you in a 
scene where so much honor and so many laurels are to 
be won and gathered. 

It affects me with a lively pleasure that your taste has 
turned with a peculiar fondness to the studies of law and 
government on the great scale of history and manners. 
They have been too long in the management of en¬ 
quirers, who were merely metaphysicians, or merely 
the retainers of courts. Their generous and liberal 
nature has been wounded and debased by the minute¬ 
ness of an acute, but useless, philosophy, and by a 
mean and slavish appetite for practice and wealth. It is 
now fit that we should have lawyers who are orators, 
philosophers, and historians. 

But while I entreat you to accept my best thanks for 
your excellent letter, and express my approbation of 
those studies of which you are enamoured, permit me, 
at the same time, to embrace the opportunity of making 
known to you the. bearer of these lines. Dr. Gillies, of 


164 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


whom you may have heard as the translator of Lysias, 
has been long my warm friend : and I have to recom¬ 
mend him to you as the possessor of qualities which are 
still more to his honor than extensive learning and real 
genius. Men who leave their compatriots behind them 
in the pursuits of science and true ambition, are of the 
same family, and ought to be known to one another. 

Do me the favour, my dear Sir, to continue to afford 
me a place in your memory, and believe me that I shall 
always hear of your prosperity, your reputation and 
your studies, with a peculiar and entire satisfaction. 

I am now, and ever, your’s, &c. 

Gilb. Stuart. 

P. S. In January or February I am to send into the 
world a new work, in which I treat of the public law, and 
the Constitutional History of Scotland. And, wherever 
you are, I am to transmit you one of the first copies, by 
Mr. Murray, of Fleet-Street. 

dj?* C 1 iVyr^ 

Dean Tucker to Mr. Jones. 
dear sir, Gloucester^ September 21, 1778. 

When you first honoured me with your acquaint¬ 
ance, perhaps you was not aware what a troublesome 
correspondence you was bringing yourself into. Be 
that as it may, I will now beg leave to avail myself of 
the permission which you kindly granted me of con¬ 
sulting you on some points. Several copies of my last 
tract have been in the university upwards of a fortnight; 
and it is probable that by this time some have vouchsafed 
to read it. What therefore I wish to know is, whether, 
in the judgment of those who have given it a perusal, I 
have confuted Mr. Locke’s system in such a manner, 
that they are convinced his must be wrong, whatever 
else may happen to be right. If this is not the case 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 165 

that is, if I have not totally confuted Mr. Locke, I need 
proceed no further, for mine can have no chance to be 
true if his is still supposed to be the only true one, and 
I shall very willingly give up the pursuit. But, if I 
have demolished his scheme, I have so far cleared the 
way to make room for my own ; and, in that case, I 
have one or two points to consult you about. 

I am, 

J. Tucker. 

<$ 

Mr. Jones to Lord AltJjorpe. 

Temple , Oct. 13, 1778. 

My dear lord, captain, and friend, (of ail which 
titles no man entertains a juster idea than yourself) how 
shall I express the delight which your letter from War- 
ley camp has given me ? I cannot sufficiently regret that 
I was so long deprived of that pleasure; for, intending 
to be in London soon after the circuit, I had neglected 
to leave any directions here about my letters; so that 
yours has lain almost a month upon my table, where I 
found it yesterday on my return from the country. I 
ought, indeed, to have written first to you, because I 
was a rambler, you stationary, and because the pen has 
been my peculiar instrument, as the sword has been 
yours this summer; but the agitation of forensic busi¬ 
ness, and the sort of society in which I have been forced 
to live, afforded me few moments of leisure, except 
those in which nature calls for perfect repose, and the 
spirits exhausted with fatigue require immediate repa¬ 
ration. I rejoice to see that you are a votary, as Archi- 
locus says of himself, both of the muses and of Mars; 
nor do I believe that a letter full of more manly senti¬ 
ments, or written with more unaffected elegance, than 
yours, has often been sent from a camp. You know I 
have set my mind on your being a fine speaker in next 


166 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


parliament, in the cause of true constitutional liberty', 
and your letters convince me that I shall not be disap¬ 
pointed. To this great object, both for your own glory 
and your country’s good, your present military station 
will contribute not a little; for a soldier’s life naturally 
inspires a certain spirit and confidence, without which 
the finest elocution will not have a full effect. Not to 
mention Pericles, Xenophon, Caesar, and a hundred 
other eloquent soldiers among the ancients, I am per¬ 
suaded that Pitt (whom by the Wray I am far from com¬ 
paring to Pericles) acquired his forcible manner in the 
field, where he carried the colours. This I mention in 
addition to the advantages of your present situation, 
which you very justly point out: nor can I think your 
summer in any respect uselessly spent, since our con¬ 
stitution has a good defence in a w^ell regulated militia, 
officered by men who love their country; and a militia 
so regulated may in due time be the means of thinning 
the formidable standing army, if not of extinguishing 
it. Captain ** * * is one of the worthiest, as well as 
tallest men in the kingdom; but he, and his Socrates, 
Dr. Johnson, have such prejudices in politics, that one 
must be upon one’s guard in their company, if one 
wishes to preserve their good opinion. By the way, 
the dean of Gloucester has printed a work, which he 
thinks a full confutation of Locke’s Theory of Govern¬ 
ment, and his second volume will contain a new Theory 
of his own: of this, when we meet. The disappoint¬ 
ment to which you allude, and concerning which you say 
so many friendly things to me, is not yet certain. My 
competitor is not yet nominated : many doubt whether 
he will be; I think he will not, unless the chancellor 
should press it strongly. It is still the opinion and wish 
of the bar, that I should be the man. I believe the 
minister hardly knows his own mind. I cannot legally 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 167 

be appointed till January, or next month at soonest, 
because I am not a barrister of five years standing till 
that time : now many believe that they keep the place 
open for me till I am qualified. I certainly wish to 
have it, because I wish to have twenty thousand pounds 
in my pocket before I am eight-and-thirty years old, 
and then I might contribute in some little degree to¬ 
wards the service of my country in parliament, as well 
as at the bar, without selling my liberty to a patron, as 
too many of my profession are not ashamed of doing; 
and I might be a speaker in the house of commons in 
the full vigour and maturity of my age; whereas, in 
the slow career of Westminster-hall, I should not per, 
haps, even with the. best success, acquire the same in, 
dependent station, till the age at which Cicero was 
killed. But be assured, my dear lord, that if the mi¬ 
nister be offended at the style in which I have spoken, 
do speak, and will speak, of public affairs, and on that 
account should refuse to give me the judgeship, I shall 
not be at all mortified, having already a very decent 
competence without a debt, or a care of any kind. I 
will not break in upon you at Warley unexpectedly, 
but whenever you find it most convenient let me know, 
and I will be with you in less than two hours. 

Bean Tucker to Mr. Jones . 
dear sir, Gloucester , December 31, 1778. 

I have the pleasure to acquaint you, that your 
packet and letter arrived safe last night; for both which 
I am very much obliged to you. I cannot say that 
your remarks have wrought much conviction in me, 
(in some places they have) but they have had what I 
esteem a better effect, that is, they will make me more 
cautious and circumspect in some of my expressions; 
and they will oblige me to bring more proofs and illus- 




168 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


trations of some points than I thought were needful. 
In all these respects your friendly remarks have done 
me much greater service than unmeaning compliments; 
and as to your differing so widely in opinion from me, 
jrour frank declaration of this difference proves you the 
honester man, and the more to be esteemed. 

I am, &c. 

Adam Prince Czartoryski to Mr . Jones. 
sir, Warsaw, Nov. 26, 1773. 

It is the fate of those who, like you, are an orna¬ 
ment to the literary world, to be known to those who 
are perfectly unknown to them; each is entitled to call 
to them for light;, and this, I hope, will be a sufficient 
apology for my intruding upon you, and interrupting 
those studious hours which you consecrate with so 
much success to the instruction of your readers. 

I was happy enough of late to hit upon your Essay 
on the Poetry of the Eastern nations, and your History 
of the Persian language. I found that you had made 
up, in these two works, a quarrel of a very old standing 
between erudition and taste: you have brought them 
to meet together in such a friendly manner, that one 
who had never read but your writings would be apt to 
think they always went hand in hand. 

I have been applying myself, since a few years, to 
the study of Eastern languages; though I cannot flatter 
myself with having made as yet any considerable pro¬ 
gress in that branch of learning. Your most excellent 
Grammar of the Persian language, which gave birth to 
Mr. Richardson’s one of the Arabic, executed upon 
the same plan, are the agreeable guides which I follow 
in that difficult journey: to them I owe to be rescued 
out of the hands of Erpenius, Guadagnola, and the rest 
of those unmerciful gentlemen who never took the least 


169 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

trouble about clearing the road, or plucking out one 
single them from the many with which the paths of the 
Eastern languages are covered. Give me leave to be 
still more beholden to you; and as you learned men are 
the leading stars of the unlearned, I beg you will bestow 
a few moments of your leisure upon answering some 
questions which may perhaps appear very trifling in the 
eyes of a man of your extensive knowledge. 

I have always been at a loss to form any conjecture 
updn the following subject; which is, by what chance 
so many words from other European languages* or at 
least used in our European languages, are got into the 
Persian; as for instance, jivan, pudder, mader,* the 
English, bad , the German, dochter , der , bend , together 
with a deal of Sclavonian, especially in the arithmetical 
numbers, which, even in the manner of pronouncing 
them, are exactly the same, such as pendsed , scheshsed ,f 
&c. I should be greatly obliged to you, likewise, if by 
your means I could be informed, whether the Dictionary 
of Meninski, proposed to be reprinted at Oxford, is al¬ 
ready come out; whether it contains a great many addi¬ 
tions, which are not to be found in the edition of 1680; 
lastly, whether Mr. Richardson has published the se¬ 
cond volume, English and Arabic, of his Dictionary. 
As to our poor countryman, Meninski, he has not met 
with the reward which he had a right to expect;! after 

* Youth, father, mother. f 500 and 600. 

| From the short account given of Meninski, in the Biographical Dic¬ 
tionary, it appears, that he was no less distinguished for his extensive 
erudition and profound knowledge of languages, particularly Oriental, 
than by the propriety of conduct, and abilities, displayed by him in various 
official situations to which he had risen by his merit. His first station 
was that of first interpreter to the Polish embassy at the Porte, and from 
this he was gradually advanced to the rank of a counsellor of war to the 
etnperor at Vienna, and first interpreter of Oriental languages. He died 
at Vienna, at the age of 75, in 1698, eighteen y&ars after the publication 
e£ his famous and useful work, the Oriental Thesaurus. The compilers 


170 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


having wasted his health and fortune in the finishing of 
his work, he died unnoticed at Vienna; and his daughter 
ended her life in the same city a few years ago, very ill 
used by those who had advanced money to her father, 
for the publishing of his work. You live in a country 
where such a sin would be ranked among the moral ones. 
Baron Reviczki, so justly and honourably mentioned in 
your works, has been residing here for several years, as 
minister of the court of Vienna: we have often made the 
wish that something could tempt you to take our part 
of the world in your way. If that should ever happen, 
I would consider it as a most agreeable circumstance 
for me, if you could be prevailed upon to accept of my 
house during your sta}/ - , and consider it as your own. I 
know what advantages we might reap from so useful and 
agreeable an intercourse, and would make it our busi¬ 
ness not to let time lay heavy upon your hands. I must 
(before I end) express to you the sense of pleasure which 
I felt, as a Pole, in reading that passage of your preface 
which concerns our country: it bears the stamp of hu¬ 
manity and spirit. Now, after having repeated my ex¬ 
cuses for having been so forward, and perhaps so tedious, 
I am, with all possible regard, See. 

Adam Prince Czartoryski, 

General of Podolia- 

Mr. Jones to Prince Adam Czartoryski . 

Lamb's Buildings , Temple , London , Feb. 17, 1779. 

Nothing could be more honourable to me than your 
, letter; nothing more flattering than the sentiments which 
you express in it; but I am so little used to converse or 
correspond with princes, and have so long been accus¬ 
ed this account do not fiotice the circumstances mentioned by prince 
Czartoryski. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 171 

tomed to the plainness of the ancients, that I should ad¬ 
dress your highness with more facility in Latin than in 
any modern idiom. Yet, as you not only perfectly un¬ 
derstand my native language, but even write it (I speak 
sincerely) with elegance, I will try to answer in English, 
with Roman simplicity. 

It gives me great pleasure that my juvenile composi¬ 
tions have been at all useful or entertaining to you. 
What higher reward can a writer desire than the appro¬ 
bation of such a reader? In supposing, however, that 
you interrupt my studious hours, which I am consecrat¬ 
ing to literature, allow me to say, that, unhappily for 
me, you are a little mistaken. My last four years have 
been spent in forensic labours, which, however arduous, 
are no less pleasing than reputable, and would be per¬ 
fectly congenial with my temper and disposition, if they 
did not wholly preclude me from resuming my former 
studies. It is possible, however, that I may soon suc¬ 
ceed to a high judicial office in Bengal, where the vaca¬ 
tions will give me leisure to renew my acquaintance, 
which I now am obliged to intermit, with the Persian 
and Arabian classics. Should my appointment take 
place, I shall set a high value on your correspondence, 
and will not fail to send both your highness and my 
friend, Baron Reviczki (to whom I will write very 
soon) some wreaths of flowers from the banks of the 
Ganges. 

In answer to your questions, I must inform your 
highness that the project of reprinting Meninski here is 
entirely dropt; but Richardson is indefatigable, and ad¬ 
vances as expeditiously as possible with the second part 
of his dictionary. How so many European words crept 
into the Persian language, 1 know not with certainty. 
Procopius, I think, mentions the great intercourse, both 
in war and peace, between the Persians and the nations 


172 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


in the north of Europe and Asia, whom the ancients 
knew by the general name of Scythians. Many learned 
investigators of antiquity are fully persuaded that a 
very old and almost primoeval language was in use among 
these northern nations, from which not only the Celtic 
dialects, but even the Greek and Latin are derived; in 
fact, we find and pur}# in Persian, nor is &vy*rig so 
far removed from dockter, or even OVOfAOC) and no men, 
from nim, as to make it ridiculous to suppose, that they 
sprung from the same root. We must confess that these 
researches are very obscure and uncertain; and you will 
allow not so agreeable as an ode of Hafez, or an elegy of 
Amr’alkeis. How happy should I be, my dear prince, 
if, on my return from India, I could visit Poland, accept 
the kind invitation of your highness, and enjoy the pro¬ 
mised pleasure of your conversation and friendship. My 
good genius forbids me wholly to despair of that happi¬ 
ness; and the sperata voluptas suavis amicitias, which 
enabled Lucretius to endure any toil, and to spend the 
starry nights, as he says, in contemplation, shall have a 
similar effect on, &x. 

William Jones. 

Dr. Stuart to Mr. Jones. 

my dear sir, Feb. 12, 1779. 

I beg you to accept my new work, as a mark of my 
best observance. The subjects are very important, very 
curious, and very new, but the materials upon which I 
was to operate were very imperfect. Indeed, I fear much 
that a propriety of intention is all my merit, and from 
that, I think, I am to draw little glory; for it is common 
to me with writers who are the weakest and most trifl¬ 
ing. Yet, if your eye can trace any evidence in this 
trifle to oppose my apprehensions, I shall be very happy. 
All the humility of my doubts will go away. In two 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 17 $ 

respects I expose myself very much to censure. I have 
attacked the nobile officium of the court of session; and 
I have vindicated the freedom of the Scottish govern¬ 
ment from the misrepresentations of Dr. Robertson, the 
historiographer of Scotland. With a thousand people, 
these things are the greatest of all crimes. It is in 
England, and not in this country, that I am to find those 
readers who will be perfectly impartial. I entreat you 
to accept my most sincere wishes for your prosperity, 
and that you will believe me, with the most entire re. 
spect, my dear Sir, &c. 

Gilb. Stuart. 

Dr. Stuart to Mr. Jones. 

Dr. Stuart presents his best compliments to Mr. 
Jones. 

I beg to have the pleasure to submit to your inspec¬ 
tion a small Treatise, which I have published a few years 
ago, as an introduction to an extensive work on the laws 
and constitution of England, which Thave long medi¬ 
tated, and have in part executed. If you like my ideas, 

I shall account myself extremely fortunate. If they do 
not strike you as of importance and interesting, I shall 
think that I have employed my leisure without advan¬ 
tage. Your line of study has led you to enquire into 
the history of English manners and jurisprudence. The 
little work which accompanies this note is perfectly 
within this line; and, as I have the most entire confi¬ 
dence in your penetration and candor, I should be happy 
to know your opinion of it. I should then be in a state 
to form a^resolution, whether I ought to give order and 
method to the materials I have collected in the view of 
prosecuting a subject, which I may perhaps have under¬ 
taken without having properly consulted my forces. You 
will do me the favour to excuse this trouble. 


174 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

* C. Reviczki to Mr. Jones. 

Warsaw, March 17, 1779. 

I lately received through Mr.your two last 

learned publications, a most agreeable and convincing 
proof of your affectionate remembrance of me. The 
singular erudition with which your works abound, not 
only delighted me exceedingly, but almost excited my 
inclination to resume those studies which I had almost 
forgotten. Prince Adam Czartoryski, who has culti¬ 
vated Oriental literature not unsuccessfully, had already 
afforded me an opportunity of perusing your life of Na¬ 
dir Shah. He particularly pointed out the passages in 
the dissertation, in which you make such honourable 
mention of me, and for which I am indebted to your 
partialit}^ alone. I regret the loss which the republic 
of letters must suffer from your desertion, and determi¬ 
nation to devote yourself to the altar of Themis: but I 
trust that Melpomene, under whose auspices you were 
born, will compel you to return to your allegiance. I 
am heartily tired with a residence of seven years on the 
banks of the Vistula; but the termination of the German 
war will, I hope, restore me to a more pleasing situa¬ 
tion. Flow much more agreeable would it be to me if 
fortune would allow me to gratify my inclinations, by 
passing my days in England, near you ! But to what¬ 
ever place my destiny may lead me, my affection for you 
will continue unabated. Farewel. 

Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpc . 

Temple, Feb. 4, 1780. 

The public piety having given me this afternoon 
what I rarely can obtain, a short intermission of busi- 


; Appendix, No. 35. 



SIR WILLIAM JONES. 175 

ness, can I employ my leisure more agreeably than in 
writing to my friend ? I shall send my letter at random, 
not knowing whether you are at Althorpe or at Buck¬ 
ingham, but persuading myself that it will find you with¬ 
out much delay. May I congratulate you and our 
country on your entrance upon the great career of pub¬ 
lic life? If there ever was a time when men of spirit, 
sense, and virtue ought to stand forth, it is the present. 
I am informed, that you have attended some country 
meetings, and are on some committees. Did you find it 
necessary or convenient to speak on the state of the na¬ 
tion? It is a noble subject, and with your knowledge, 
as well as judgment, you will easily acquire habits of 
eloquence; but habits they are, no less than playing on 
a musical instrument, or handling a pencil; and as the 
best musicians and finest painters began with playing 
sometimes out of tune and drawing out of proportion, 
so the greatest orators must begin with leaving some 
periods unfinished, and perhaps with sitting down in 
the middle of a sentence. It is only by continued use 
that a speaker learns to express his ideas with precision 
and soundness, and to provide at the beginning of a pe¬ 
riod for the conclusion of it; but to this facility of speak¬ 
ing, the habit of writing rapidly contributes in a won¬ 
derful degree. I would particularly impress this truth 
upon your mind, my dear friend, because I am fully 
convinced that/an Englishman’s real importance in his 
country will always be in a compound ratio of his virtue, 
his knowledge, and his eloquence, without all of which 
qualities little real utility can result from either of them 
apart; ^md I am no less persuaded, that a virtuous and 
knowing man, who has no natural impediment, may by 
habit acquire perfect eloquence, as certainly as a healthy 
man, who has the use of his muscles, may learn to swim 
or to scate. When shall we meet, and where, that we 


176 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

may talk over these and other matters ? There are some 
topics which will be more properly discussed in con¬ 
versation than upon paper; I mean on account of their 
copiousness; for believe me I should not be concerned, 
if all that I write were copied at the post-office, and 
read before the king in council * * * * * * 

At the same time I solemnly declare, that I will not en¬ 
list under the banners of a party, a declaration which is, 
I believe, useless; because no party would receive a 
v ,man, determined as I am, to think for himself. To you 
alone, my friend, and to your interests I am firmly at¬ 
tached, both from early habit and from mature reason, 
from ancient affection unchanged for a single moment, 
and from a full conviction that such affection was well 
placed. The views and wishes of all other men I will 
analyze and weigh with that suspicion and slowness of 
belief which my experience, such as it is, has taught 
me; and to be more particular, although I will be jea¬ 
lous of the regal part of our constitution, and always 
lend an arm towards restraining its proud waves within 
due limits, yet my most vigilant and strenuous efforts 
shall be directed against any oligarchy that may rise, 
being convinced that on the popular part of every go¬ 
vernment depends its real force, the obligation of its 
laws, its welfare, its security, its permanence. I have 
been led insensibly to write more seriously than I had 
intended; my letters shall not always be so dull, but 
with so many public causes of grief or of resentment, 
who can at all times be gay ? 

* * * * 

In the memoirs of Mr. Jones, the year seventeen 
hundred and eighty forms an interesting sera, in which 
his occupations were diversified, his prospects extended, 
and his hopes expanded, more than at any former period 


177 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

of his life. His professional practice had greatly en- 
creased, and suggested the fairest hopes of progressive 
enlargement and augmented profit; but as his views 
were more particularly directed to the vacant seat on the 
bench of Fort William, in Bengal, and as, from the kind¬ 
ness of Lord North, he was authorized to expect the 
early attainment of it, he was less solicitous to procure 
an augmentation of business, which, in the event of suc¬ 
cess in his India pursuits, he must altogether abandon. 
In this state of suspense, the political events of the times 
received a more than ordinary share of his attention; he 
did not, however, enrol himself with any party; but, 
looking up to the constitution and liberty of his country, 
as the objects of his political adoration, he cultivated an 
extensive acquaintance with men of all parties, and of 
the first rank and talents, without any sacrifice of prin¬ 
ciple or opinion. No man had ever more right to apply 
to himself the character of “ nullius addictus jurare in 
“ verba magistri.” With respect to the American war, 
he early adopted sentiments upon it unfavourable to the 
justice of the British cause, and this opinion, once form¬ 
ed, would naturally acquire strength from the protrac¬ 
tion of the contest, which he lamented with the feelings 
of a true patriot and friend to humanity. These reflec¬ 
tions dictated a very animated and classical Ode to Li¬ 
berty, which he composed in Latin, and printed in 
March: it strongly displays his genius, erudition, feel¬ 
ings, and political principles.* 

Sir Roger Newdigate having declared his intention of 
vacating his seat in parliament, as representative of the 
university of Oxford, Mr. Jones was induced, by a laud¬ 
able ambition, and the encouragement of many respect- 

* Works, vol. iv. p. 581 . This ode was published under the title of 
Julii Melesigoni ad Libertateim. The assumed name is formed by a 
transposition of the letters of Gulielmus Jonesius. 

b b 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


178 

able friends, to come forward as a candidate* The fol¬ 
lowing letters will explain his hopes, his conduct, and 
disappointment on this occasion. 


Mr. Cartwright to Mr. Jones. 
sir. May 8, 1780. 

It is with pleasure I observe the public papers 
mention you as one of the candidates to represent the 
University of Oxford at the ensuing election. As a 
literary society, the rank you hold in the republic of 
letters ought certainly to point you out as one of the 
first objects of her choice. But it is not merely upon 
this principle that I feel myself interested in your suc¬ 
cess : exclusive of that veneration with which I look 
up to superior talents, I have an additional motive 
(which indeed ought to supersede every other) in the 
very high opinion I have formed of your integrity. If 
in this opinion I should be mistaken, your own writings 
have greatly contributed to mislead me. You will 
perceive, Sir, my reason for troubling you with this 
letter is to desire that when you make out a list of your 
friends upon this occasion, my name may be admitted 
into the number. 

I am, Sir, with truth, 

Your very sincere well-wisher, &c. 

Edmund Cartwright. 

Mr. Jones to the Rev. E. Cartwright. 

Lamb's Buildings , Temple , May 16 , 1780 . 

DEAR SIR, 

Since my friends have declared me a candidate for 
the very honourable seat which Sir Roger Newdigate 
intends to vacate, I have received many flattering tes¬ 
timonies of regard from several respectable persons; but 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


119 

your letter, dated May 8th, which I did not receive till 
this morning, is, without a compliment, the fairest and 
most pleasing fruit of the competition in which I am 
engaged. The rule of the university, which is a very 
noble one, forbidding me to solicit votes for myself, I 
have not been at liberty even to apply to many persons 
whom it is both a pleasure and honour to know. Your 
unsolicited approbation is a great reward of my past 
toil in my literary career, and no small incentive to 
future exertions. As to my integrity, of which you 
are pleased to express a good opinion, it has not yet 
been tried by any very strong temptations; I hope it 
will resist them if any be thrown in my way. This 
only I may say (and I think without a boast) that my 
ambition was always very much bounded, and that my 
views are already attained by professional success ade¬ 
quate to my highest expectations. Perhaps I shall not 
be thought very unambitious, if I add, that my great 
object of imitation is Mr. Selden, and that if I could 
obtain the same honour which was conferred on him, I 
should, like him, devote the rest of my life to the ser¬ 
vice of my constituents and my country, to the practice 
of an useful profession, and to the unremitted study of 
our English laws, history, and literature. To be ap¬ 
proved by you, and such men as you (if many such 
could be found), would be a sufficient reward to, &c. 

W. Jones. 

Permit me to add an ode printed (but not published) 
before the present competition, and at a time when I 
should have been certainly made a judge in India, by 
the kindness of Lord North, if any appointment had 
taken place. It proves sufficiently that no views or 
connections can prevent me from declaring my honest 
sentiments when I think they may be useful to my 
country. 


180 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Burrows to Mr. Jones. 

Hadley , near Barnet , May 23, 1780. 

SIR, 

For the first time I am sorry I did not take all my 
degrees. I should have been happy to have given the 
testimony of an individual to a merit, which I have 
long considered as the reproach, as well as ornament, 
of this age and country: I must add, it would have 
given me particular pleasure to have expressed my gra¬ 
titude, to one who has so much contributed to my in¬ 
struction and amusement. 

% k * * * #■ 

I most heartily wish you success, as the republic 
seems in great danger of taking some harm from the 
weakness of her friends, and the vigor of her foes, and 
never in any time of her life stood in more need of the 
attracting and repelling powers of men of ability. I 
must own too, I have an additional reason for wishing 
you seated in the British parliament, as I shall take 
great satisfaction in seeing the dull of all denominations 
convinced, that men of wit and learning are as capable 
of excelling in public business, as they call it, as the 
most illiterate of them all. 

I am, &c. 

J. Burrows. 

Mr. Jones to Dr. Milpian. 
sir, May 30, 1780. 

Although I have not yet the honour, to which I 
have long aspired, of your acquaintance and friendship, 
yet I am persuaded that the bo,nd which ought in this 
crisis to unite all honest men is, idem sentire de re - 
publicci; and my friend, Mr. Milles, having imparted 
to me the contents of your yesterday’s note, I beg leave 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


181 


to assure you, that I never imagined it possible, in this 
metropolis, at the busiest time of the year, for profes¬ 
sional men to attend a committee of canvassers, and 
never thought of soliciting the attendance or exertions 
of my friends, any further than might be consistent 
with their engagements and avocations. Accept, Sir, 
my very warm and very sincere thanks (and when I 
have the honour of being known to you, you will find 
that my warmth and my sincerity are perfectly undis¬ 
sembled) for the sentiments which you express to Mr. 
Milles in regard to me. Whatever be the event of the 
competition in which I am engaged, I shall certainly 
reap the most pleasing fruit from the kindness of many 
excellent persons, by whom it is an high honor to be 
esteemed. 

-*■ # 

This only I can say, that my friends having nominated 
me, I have nothing to do but to steer right onward, as 
Milton says, to a poll. The voyage will probably last 
a twelvemonth at least; and though I began to sail after 
the monsoon, yet I am by no means in despair of reach¬ 
ing the port with flying pennons, how unfavourably 
soever some few breezes may blow. Without an alle¬ 
gory, it will necessarily take up much time for my 
friends to canvass nine hundred voters, a great majority 
of whom is dispersed in various parts of the kingdom. 
As to my competitors, I know them both, and respect 
the benevolence of Sir W. Bolben as much as I admire 
the extensive erudition and fine taste of Dr. Scott: but 
their political principles are the reverse of mine. 

* H, A. Schultens to Mr . Jones . 

Leyden , June 2, 1780. 

Although increasing, and, at this particular time, 

4 * Appendix, No. 36. 


182 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


incessant occupation reluctantly compels me, in some 
measure, to forego the pleasure of corresponding with 
my friends, yet the subject of your last letter appears 
to me so important, that I am determined to hazard an 
immediate answer to it in three words, rather than, by 
waiting for a more favourable opportunity, run the risk 
of exciting a suspicion of any want of regard and af¬ 
fection for you, by an apparent inattention to your inte¬ 
rest. I should be as happy to promote it as my own, 
although I am unfortunately deficient in the means of 
doing it. 

The situation for which you are canvassing, my 
friend, is most honourable and important; and if it 
be attainable by merit, not favour, I know no person 
more worthy of it than yourself, none who has higher 
pretensions to genius, none who possesses a greater 
extent of useful knowledge, nor a more powerful and 
commanding eloquence, none who exceeds you in love 
for liberty and your country, none more capable of 
applying a remedy to the disastrous situation of affairs 
by wise counsels, prudence, fortitude, and integrity; 
none therefore to whose care our alma mater (allow me 
to evince my affection to the university by this ex¬ 
pression) can more safely trust her interests and pros¬ 
perity. 

Have you, however, no apprehension that your enthu¬ 
siasm for liberty, which is so generally known, may, 
in these unpropitious times, injure the success of your 
cause? Will those, upon whose votes your election 
depends, allows the university to be represented in par¬ 
liament by Julius Melesigonus? My countrymen have 
adopted an opinion, that, in the present situation of 
affairs, no man who publicly avows his attachment to 
liberty, can be employed in the administration. 

This, you will say, is no concern of mine; be that 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


las 


as it may, no exertions on my part shall be wanting to 
promote your success, and I wish you would inform 
me how they can be directed to your advantage. Have 
I the power of sending a vote in your favour? I much 
doubt it. Shall I apply to any of my friends at Oxford 
who are well disposed towards me; for instance, Messrs. 
Kennicott, White, and Winstanley. Write to me 
without delay, and inform me what I shall do, that I 
may convince you of my zeal and sincerity to serve 
you. 

I am at present at Leyden, having succeeded my father, 
who died about six months ago, in the professorship of 
Oriental literature. I have much to say upon this sub¬ 
ject, and hope shortly to write fully to you about it. 
I long to know how you are, as well as that best of 
women your mother, and sister (to whose friendship I 
am so much obliged). Present my affectionate regards 
to them. Farewel, and remember me. 

Some catalogues of my father’s library, which is to 
be sold in September, have been forwarded, I think, to 
Elmsley, and I have ordered one to be sent to you. 

Mr . Jones to Dr. Wheeler . 

MY DEAR SIR, September 2, 1780. 

The parliament being suddenly dissolved, I must 
beg you, as one of my best and truest friends, to make 
it known in the university, that I decline giving the 
learned body any further trouble, and I am heartily 
sorry for that which has already been given them. It 
is needless to add, what you well know, that I should 
never have been the first to have troubled them at all. 

I always thought a delegation to parliament, from so 
respectable a society, a laudable object of true ambition; 
but I considered it as a distant object, as the reward of 
long labour and meritorious service in our country; and 


184 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

I conceived, that had I filled a judge’s seat in India, 
with the approbation of my countrymen, I might on my 
return be fixed on as a proper representative of the 
university. Had not that happened, which you know, 
I should no more have thought of standing now, than 
of asking for a peerage. As to principles in politics, 
if my success at Oxford, at any future time, depend 
upon a change of them, my cause is hopeless: I cannot 
alter or conceal them without abandoning either my 
reason or my integrity; the first of which is my only 
guide, and the second my chief comfort in this passage 
through life. Were I inclined to boast of any thing, 
I should certainly boast of making those principles my 
rule of conduct, which I learned from the best of men 
in ancient and modern times; and which, my reason 
tells me, are conducive to the happiness of mankind. 
As to men , I am certainly not hostile to the ministers , 
from whom I have received obligations; but I cannot 
in conscience approve their measures. 

Mr. Jones to Mr. Cartwright. 
dear sir, September 4, 1780. 

Permit me again to express (what I can never 
express too often, or too warmly) my very sincere 
thanks for your kind letter, dated May 8, and to assure 
you, as I may with the greatest truth, that I am just as 
much obliged to you as if your kindness had been at¬ 
tended with the most brilliant success; but as my 
strength in the great elective body of our university 
(which strength, all circumstances considered, was 
very respectable) lay chiefly among the non-resident 
voters, it would be unpardonabiy ungrateful in me were 
I to give my friends the trouble of taking long journies, 
without a higher probability of success than my late en¬ 
quiries have left me room to expect. I therefore de- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 185 

cline giving any further trouble to the learned body, 
and am heartily sorry for that which has already 
been given them, though not originally by me or my 
friends. I am perfectly conscious that, had I been so 
fortunate as to succeed at Oxford, I' should not have 
advanced, nor wished to advance, a single step in the 
career of ambition, but should cheerfully have sacrificed 
my repose of mind to such a course as I conceived 
likely to promote the public good; and this conscious¬ 
ness cannot but prevent me from being in the least de¬ 
pressed by my failure of success. I should never re¬ 
pent of this little struggle, if it had produced no other 
fruit than the testimony of your approbation. The hurry 
of the general election, to a professional man, has 
obliged me to suspend, till another vacation, two little 
works, which I hoped to finish in the remainder of this. 
The first is a treatise On the Maritime Jurisprudence of 
the Athenians , illustrated by five speeches of Demos¬ 
thenes in commercial causes; and the second a dissertat¬ 
ion On the Manners of the Arabians before the time of / 
Mahomet , illustrated by the seven poems, which were 
written in letters of gold, and suspended in the temple 
at Mecca, about the beginning of the sixth century. 
When they are printed, I shall be proud in submitting 
them to your judgment, as their excellence is well 
known. 

* 

Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe. 

Sept. 4, 1780. 

The intelligence which you so kindly sent me, my 
dear lord, and which was perfectly unexpected, has 
suspended for a short time my excursion to Passy; for 
though I have not received any positive retainers foi* 
election business, yet there will be some contests in 
Wales, where I may possibly be employed j and, though 
c c 


186 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


the whole system of election-laws, and of elections 
themselves, (I always except the Grenville judicature) 
is quite repugnant to my ideas of the constitution, yet 
it would be thought unprofessional to be absent from 
England at such a time; nor ought indeed any English¬ 
man to be absent when the question to be decided is, 
“ Whether his country shall be free in form only, or in 
“ substance.” I have therefore postponed my expedi¬ 
tion for a fortnight at least, in which time all the 
borough elections will, I suppose, be over ; and by that 
time, I shall be able to form a tolerable judgment of the 
counties. In the several counties through which I 
lately passed I received (what I did not ask or desire) 
much praise from many worthy men for my plan to 
prevent necessity of making a standing army perpe¬ 
tual ; but the uniform objection which I heard was, 
“ the plan is legal and constitutional, but this is not the 
“ time for it .” Lord Mansfield himself thought other¬ 
wise, when he said in the house of Lords, that no time 
was to be lost in giving strength to the civil power ; 
but let the objectors beware, lest by refusing to adopt 
such a plan while they are able, because they think the 
time improper, they should not, when the proper time 
shall come, be allowed to adopt it. We had some 
entertaining causes on the circuit, particularly a singu¬ 
lar indictment for alarming a village on the coast of 
Pembrokeshire, with a report that a hostile ship of war 
was approaching. The prosecutors were two magis¬ 
trates (one of whom was an Indian.) who were 

angry at having been made fools of ’ a point, however, 
which they could not easily have proved, inasmuch as 
they were fools already made. I defended the prose¬ 
cuted man with sucsess, and mingled in my speech 
many bitter reflections on the state of this country at 
the time of the alarm, and on the attempt, because the 



SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


187 


English laws were not relished in India, to import the 
Indian laws into England, by imprisoning and indicting 
an honest man, who had done no more than his duty, 
and whose only fault was fear, of which both his prose¬ 
cutors were equally guilty. On my return through 
Oxford, I was convinced by undoubted authority, that 
although I had been continually gaining ground, and 
had collected no fewer than ten or twelve votes on the 
circuit, yet I had no chance of success against Sir 
W. D. and any attempt to shake Mr. Page would have 
been not only consummate rashness, but even incon¬ 
sistent with my repeated declarations. 

Let me request you to give my very sincere thanks 
to Dr. Preedy, for his kind promise and assistance, 
assuring him (which is very true) that I am just as 
much obliged to him, as if his kindness had been at¬ 
tended with success, and desiring him to thank his 
friend Dr. Ruding in the same terms, and, with the 
same sincerity. Must I add this trouble to that which 
you have already taken? I will make no apologies after 
a friendship of fifteen years, uninterrupted even for a 
single moment. How shall I conclude ? by wishing 
you prosperity in the Greek, or health in the Roman 
form? No man, my dear lord, wishes you both more 
ardently than I do. Farewel. 

Mr . Jones to Dr, Wetherel, 
sir, Sept. 6, 1780. 

It having been suggested to me by a most respec¬ 
table friend, that it would be proper, and was in fact 
the due form , to apprise you and the vice-chancellor as 
soon as possible, of my being no longer a candidate for 
the university, I sent to the houses of those gentlemen 
who honored me with forming my committee, thinking 
it more regular, that they should make the declaration 


188 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of my having declined a poll; but as they are out of 
town, I am necessitated to trouble you with this letter. 
If Dr. Scott should stand the poll, I am ready to perform 
my promise of giving him my vote, as I am no more 
his competitor. Since I have taken up my pen (which 
it Was no means my intention to do), I cannot help say¬ 
ing that the conduct of some of my friends in respect of 
me gives me surprise and (for their sakes rather than 
my own) uneasiness. If I have not been able to prove’ 
my attachment to my fellow-collegiates, it is because 
they never called for my service; if they had, they 
should have found that no man would have exerted him- 
dclf with more activity to serve them; nor was I deficient 
in zeal, I Well remember, when you in particular re¬ 
quired niyj exertions. I am conscious of having deserv¬ 
ed very well of the college; and if any of its members 
are S q unkind as to think otherwise, I will shew my 
sense of their unkindness by persisting till my last hour 
in dfeserVing well of them. After this, I should little 
hSiVe v expected, that my letters, couched in the most 
.■sincere and affectionate terms, and absolutely unexcep¬ 
tionable, if they had been fairly represented, would have 
been repeated by detached sentences (which might have 
made no small alteration in the sense) in several com¬ 
panies in the university. Still less should I have ex¬ 
pected to find iwyself charged with misrepresenting (a 
serious wx>rd!) facets, of which I would, if necessary, 
make a deposition^ and with writing what it must have 
appeared ffbm stforlg T internal evidence that I could not 
havb written; because it contained a mistake as to the 
number of our lay-fellows, which I (who know and es¬ 
teem Mr. Ray) cotild never have made. Least of all 
could I halve expected to be accused of wishing to over¬ 
turn a constitution, which I prize, because I understand 
it; and which I Would sacrifice my life to preserve . All 


18$ 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

these charges, God and my conscience enable me to bear 
with the coolest indifference, and with little abatement 
of that respect with which I ever have been, &c. 

Mr. Jones to Mr. Cartwright. 
dear sir, Sept. 8, 1780. 

Yotir last favour I have this instant received, and am 
obliged to answer it in the greatest haste. I hope you 
have by this time received my letter, in which I inform¬ 
ed you that I had declined a poll at Oxford, but was as 
much obliged to you and my other friends as if your 
kindness had been attended with the most brilliant suc¬ 
cess. I saw an advertisement also in the paper that Dr. 
Scott had declined. 

^ * * * * * 

I have been told, that the very ode to which you are 
so indulgent, lost me near twenty votes; this, however, 
I am unwilling to believe. I am, &x. 

William Jones. 

The conduct of Mr. Jones, throughout the business 
of the election, displays his characteristical integrity and 
manly principles. To have succeeded, would have been 
most honourable to him; his failure was attended with 
no disgrace. From the letters, written or received by 
him on this occasion, a much larger selection might have 
been made, and many persons of the first respectability 
named, as the unsolicited supporters of Mr. Jones. It 
was greatly to his credit, that, with no other influence 
than that of his character and abilities, he should have 
been deemed w r orthy of being nominated a candidate to 
represent the university of Oxford, one of the most dis¬ 
tinguished in the world for science and virtue. His af¬ 
fectionate attachment to this seat of learning, and his 
respectful veneration for it, were known and admitted, as 


190 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

well as the spirit of independence which, at all times, 
and under all circumstances, marked his character. His 
opinion respecting the effect of his Ode to Liberty, on 
the disposition of some of the voters, countenances the 
suspicions of his friend Schultens: it is certain, how¬ 
ever, that, if he had succeeded in his election, he would 
have employed all the superior talents which Schultens 
justly ascribes to him, with zeal and assiduity, in dis¬ 
charging the duties of a senator. To obtain it was his 
highest ambition, and he would have cheerfully sacri¬ 
ficed to it (to repeat his own words) “ not only an Indiail 
€t judgeship of six thousand a year, but a nabobship, 
lt with as many millions.” 

Notwithstanding the various occupations attending 
the Oxford election, Mr. Jones found time to publish a 
small pamphlet, entitled, An Enquiry into the legal Mode 
of suppressing Riots , with a constitutional Plan for future 
Defence . This publication was suggested by the un¬ 
fortunate necessity of calling in military assistance to 
suppress the riots, which from the second to the eighth 
of June of that year, had desolated the capital. He had 
unhappily been a vigilant and indignant spectator of 
those abominable enormities : he had also seen, with a 
mixed sensation of anguish and joy, the vigorous and 
triumphant exertions of the executive power; and though 
lie admitted the necessity of those exertions, he deplored 
it. 

Impressed with the fullest “ conviction that the com- 

mon and statute laws of the realm, then in force, give 
“ the civil state in every county a power, which if it 
“ were perfectly understood and continually prepared, 
“ would effectually quell any riot or insurrection, with- 
u out assistance from the military, and even without the 
“ modern riot-act,” he undertook to demonstrate it; 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


191 


and the labour of less than a month produced the occa¬ 
sional tract which he published in July. 

Of the plan which he then proposed, it is sufficient to 
say, that, during late years, the principle of it has been 
advantageously adopted; and that, while the internal 
peace of the country has been preserved, its defence 
against external aggression has been no less consulted by 
the armed associations, which, under different names, 
have been legally established in every county of Great 
Britain. 

On the ninth of September, of this year, Mr. Jones 
met the freeholders of Middlesex, assembled for the 
purpose of nominating two representatives in the new 
parliament. The circumstances of the meeting afforded 
him no opportunity of addressing them on the general 
state of the nation; but he amused himself with drawing 
up a discourse, containing the purport of what he would 
have spoken, if an opportunity for this purpose had oc¬ 
curred. 

This speech is strikingly characteristic of his princi¬ 
ples and feelings; he condemns, in unqualified terms, 
the American war, and the conduct of the late parlia¬ 
ment, in supporting it. He takes a summary review of 
the state of the nation, and delivers his opinion upon it 
without reserve, in that strong language which was so 
often heard in the parliamentary debates of 1780, and 
read in the petitions from the associated counties. I 
shall select from it two passages only, which have no 
reference, to the political discussions of that period; one, 
in which Mr. Jones expresses his sentiments on the Af¬ 
rican slave trade, and the second containing an honour¬ 
able declaration of that conduct which he would have 
pursued, if good fortune had placed him in the house 
of commons. 

“ I pass with haste by the coast of Africa, whence my 


192 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


“ mind turns with indignation at the abominable traffic 
“ in the human species, from which a part of our coun- 
“ trymen dare to derive their most inauspicious wealth. 
“ Sugar, it has been said, would be dear if it were not 
<£ worked by Blacks in the Western Islands; as if the 
“ most laborious, the most dangerous works, were not 
u carried on in every country, but chiefly in England, 
“ by free men; in fact, they are so carried on with in- 

finitely more advantage, for there is an alacrity in a 
“ consciousness of freedom, and a gloomy sullen indo- 
t£ lence in a consciousness of slavery ; but let sugar be 
<£ as dear as it may, it is better to eat none, to eat honey, 
“ if sweetness only be palatable ; better to eat aloes or 
“ coloquintida than violate a primary law of nature, im- 
“ pressed on every heart not imbruted by avarice, than 
“ rob one human creature of those eternal rights, o^ 
“ which no law upon earth can justly deprive him. 

“ Had it been my good or bad fortune to have deli- 
“ vered in the great assembly of representatives the 
“ sentiments which this bosom contains, I am sensible 
“ that my public course of speaking and voting must 
<£ have clashed in a variety of instances with my private 
<£ obligations; and the conflict of interfering duties con- 
“ stitutes, in my opinion, the nicest part of morality, 
“ on which, however, I have completely formed my 
“ system, and trust no views of interest will ever pre- 
“ vent my practice from coinciding with my theory.” 

Professions of this nature are sometimes made and 
forgotten, when the end, which they were meant to 
serve, has been attained ; but sincerity was ever a pro¬ 
minent feature in the character of Mr. Jones, and he 
was more disposed to overstep the bounds of prudence 
by adhering to it, than to violate what he always 
deemed a primary law of morality. 

In the autumn of this year, I find Mr. Jones at Paris. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


193 


He had in the preceding summer made a short excur¬ 
sion to that capital; but the occurrences of these jour¬ 
neys are not of sufficient importance to engage the 
reader’s attention. I recollect to have heard him men¬ 
tion, in answer to a question which I once put to him, 
whether he had seen Monsieur du Perron at Paris, that 
this gentleman studiously avoided meeting him during 
his residence there. 

The following letters, written by Mr. Jones after his 
return to England, are interesting, as descriptive of his 
occupations and sentiments, and as announcing his in¬ 
tention of writing an important historical work, which 
he never found time to execute. 

Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe. 

I thought myself peculiarly unfortunate last Friday 
in my way to London ; at Chatham, where I had the 
pleasure indeed of seeing lady Rothes restored to per¬ 
fect health, I sought in vain for Mr. Langton among 
the new ravelines and counterscarps; and at Hartford 
I had the mortification to find, that you, my dear lord, 
were not in camp, where I was not without hope of 
passing an evening, which I am persuaded would have 
been equally agreeable to us both. After a very tedious, 
and uncomfortable passage I arrived at Margate, on 
Wednesday night, having been out of England a month 
exactly, half of which time I spent at Paris. In this 
interval I have seen, not indeed so many meit or so 
many cities as the hero of the Odyssey, but a sufficient 
number of both to have enlarged very considerably the 
sphere of my knowledge. I have heard much, and 
thought more; but the result of all I have heard and 
thought is, that the war, which I have invariably and 
deliberately condemned as no less unjust than impolitic, 
will continue very long to desolate the country of our 
n d 


194 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


brethren, and exhaust our own. The principal object 
of my late excursion has been completely answered; 
and I had more success than I at first expected in one 
or two subordinate pursuits, professional and literary, 
I attended some causes at the palais , and have brought 
with me the works of a most learned lawyer, whose 
name and merit I shall have the honor of making known 
to our countrymen. I obtained access also to a fine 
manuscript in the royal library, which has given me a 
more perfect acquaintance with the manners of the 
ancient Arabians; and how little soever I may value 
mere philology , considered apart from the knowledge to 
which it leads, yet I shall ever set a high price on those 
branches of learning, which make us acquainted with 
the human species in all its varieties. Paris itself, and 
all the roads to it are so perfectly known to you, that an 
account of my journey would be superfluous ; and as to 
politics, I would rather converse than write on a subject 
so very serious ; not that I have any apprehensions as 
you well know, of the least danger, or even inconve¬ 
nience, to myself; but many accidents happen to 
letters, and in times like these, the post is hardly to be 
trusted. This, however, I will say, that as it is my fixed 
design, if I live to see a peace, to write an impartial 
history of the war, I was desirous in France to be ac¬ 
quainted with as many of the American leaders as I 
could meet with; and the same desire would have car¬ 
ried me to Amsterdam, if the season had not been so 
far advanced. All the intelligence that I collected, and 
all the observations that I made, you should have 
heard on Friday evening, had you been in camp, and 
shall hear in the course of conversation when w r e meet. 
I rejoice since my return, that lord Spencer is much 
better. Farev 7 el, my dear lord, you are more fully assured 
than formal w 7 ords can express, how sincerely I am &c. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


195 


Mr. Jones to Mr. Cartwright. 

Dear sir, Nov. 12, 1780. 

You have so fully proved the favourable opinion, 
which you do me the honor to entertain of me, that 1 
am persuaded you acquit me of any culpable neglect in 
delaying for more than two months to answer your very 
obliging letter. The truth is, that I had but just re¬ 
ceived it when I found myself obliged to leave England 
on very pressing business ; and I have not long been 
returned from Paris. The hurry of preparing myself 
for so long a journey, at such a season, left me no time 
for giving you my hearty thanks, which I now most 
sincerely request you to accept, both for your kind 
letter, and for the very elegant sonnet, with which you 
have rewarded me abundantly for my humble labours 
in the field of literature. I give you my word that your 
letters and verses have greatly encouraged me in pro¬ 
ceeding as expeditiously as I am able, to send abroad 
my seven Arabian poets ; and I propose to spend nextv 
month at Cambridge, in order to finish my little work, 
and to make use of a rare manuscript in the library of 
Trinity College; my own manuscript, which was copied 
for me at Aleppo, is very beautiful, but unfortunately 
not very correct. You may depend on receiving a 
copy as soon as it can be printed. 

How happy I shall be if I should be able to wait 
upon you in Leicestershire, or to see you in London, 
and assure you in person that I am, 

With the greatest sincerity, &x. 

W. Jones. 

* $ * * * * 

From the public occurrences in which Mr. Jones was 
engaged, I now turn to a domestic calamity (the death 


m 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of his mother), which involved him in the deepest af¬ 
fliction. If, as a parent, she had the strongest claims 
upon the gratitude and affection of her son, the obliga¬ 
tions of filial duty were never more cheerfully and zea¬ 
lously discharged than by Mr. Jones. To her able 
instruction he was indebted for the first rudiments of 
literature; she directed his early studies, formed his 
habits and his taste; and, by the closest attention to 
economy, was enabled to promote his progress in learn¬ 
ing, by supplying the funds for this purpose. From the 
period of his obtaining a fellowship, he had declined 
receiving any assistance from her purse; and as his 
professional profits encreased, his own was ever at her 
disposal. During his residence at Oxford, the time 
which he did not employ in study or college duties 
was devoted to her: his attention was equally the result 
of principle and affection. She was the confidant of his 
plans, hopes, and occupations, and he invariably con¬ 
sulted her on all occasions, where his more important 
interests were concerned. The kindness, as well as 
the sincerity of his affection, was shown in numberless 
instances, which never failed to attract the observation 
of his friends and associates, although they are too 
minute to be particularised; and the satisfaction which 
he derived from the distinction to which his abilities 
had raised him was redoubled from the consideration 
that his mother participated in it. I regret that none 
of his letters to his mother have been preserved; as 
they would have exhibited an amiable and striking part 
of his character.*' 


* I transcribe the following memorandum from the hand-writing of 
Mr. Jones: 


Anno, Oct. 33. 

Resolved to learn no more rudiments of any kind, but to perfect myself in, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


19 7 


The remaining correspondence of this year, between 
Mr. Jones and his friends, is not important: I select 
from it only two letters, which cannot fail to please, 
although they may not be particularly interesting. 

Mr . Jones to the Bishop of St. Asaph . 
my lord, November 23, 1780. 

Had I not been prevented by particular business 
from writing to your lordship on Tuesday evening and 
yesterday, I would have informed you before that we 
had done ourselves the honor (and a very great one 
we shall ever esteem it) of electing your lordship a 
member of our club.* The election was of course 

First, 12 languages, as the means of acquiring accurate knowledge of the' 

I. HISTORY 
of 

1. Man. 2. Nature. 

II. ARTS. 

1. Rhetoric. 2. Poetry. 3. Painting. 4. Music. 

III. SCIENCES. 

l.Law. 2. Mathematics. 3. Dialectic. 

N. B. Every species of human knowledge may be reduced to one or 
other of these divisions. Even law belongs partly to the History of 
Man, partly, as a science, to dialectic. 

The twelve languages are, 

Greek, 

Latin, 

Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, 

Hebrew, Arafbic, 

Persian, 

Turkish, 

German, English. 

17SoT 

* Generally known by the name of the Turk" s-Head Club , held in 
Gerrard-Street, Soho. The establishment of this club was first pro¬ 
posed by Sir Joshua Reynolds to Burke and Johnson; and the original 
members of it were the friends of these three. The number of mem¬ 
bers was gradually encreased to forty, comprehending men of the most 
distinguished characters, and eminent for their learning, talents, and 
abilities. 



198 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


unanimous, and it was carried with the sincere appro¬ 
bation and eagerness of all present. I am sorry to add, 
that lord Camden and the bishop of Chester were re¬ 
jected. When bishops and chancellors honor us with 
offering to dine with us at a tavern, it seems very ex¬ 
traordinary that we should ever reject such an offer; 
but there is no reasoning on the caprice of men. Of 
our club I will only say, that there is no branch of 
human knowledge, on which some of our members are 
not capable of giving information, and I trust, that as 
the honor will be ours, so your lordship will receive 
some pleasure from the company, once a fortnight, of 
some of our first writers and critics, as well as our most 
virtuous senators and accomplished men. I think my¬ 
self highly honored in having been a member of this 
society near ten years, and chiefly in having contributed 
to add such names to the number of our friends as those 
of your lordship and lord Althorpe. I spoke yesterday 
in Westminster-hall for two hours and a half, on a 
knotty point of law, and this morning for above an 
hour, on a very interesting public question; to morrow 
I must argue a great cause, and am therefore obliged 
to conclude with assuring 

Your lordship, that l am, 

With the highest, &c. 

W. Jones. 

The Bishop of St. Asaph to Mr. Jones. 
dear sir, November 27. 

You was prevented by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 
your kind intentions of giving me the earliest notice of 
the honor you have done me. I believe Mr. Fox will 
allow me to say, that the honor of being elected into 
the Turk’s Head club is not inferior to that of being 
the representative of Westminster or Surrey. The elec- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 199 

tors arc certainly more disinterested, and I should say 
they were much better judges of merit, if they had not 
rejected lord Camden and chosen me. I flatter myself 
with the hopes of great pleasure and improvement in 
such a society as you describe*, which indeed is the only 
club of which I ever wished myself a member. 

Though I am much flattered with hearing from you, 
I was delighted with the cause of your delaying to 
write. Your talents have found means, by their own 
weight, to open the way to public notice and employ¬ 
ment, which could not long be shut against them. Your 
pleadings for the nephew against the daughter promise 
something very curious in the particulars of the case, 
which seems to call for great abilities to defend it. 

I would not neglect the first opportunity of answering 
your very obliging letter, though, it being early post 
day, I am forced to write in a greater hurry than I could 
wish. I am, &c. 

J. St. A. 

* * % 

After an interval of six years, we find Mr. Jones re¬ 
tracing his favourite haunts with the Arabian muses. 
He devoted the leisure hours of the winter of 1780-1 to 
complete his translation of seven ancient poems of the 
highest repute in Arabia.* Literature, politics, pro- 

* At the beginning of the seventh century, the Arabic language was 
brought to a high degree of perfection, by a sort of poetical academy, 
that used to assemble at stated times in a place called Ocadh, where 
,every poet produced his best composition, and was sure to meet with, 
the applause that it deserved. The most excellent of these poems were 
transcribed in characters of gold upon Egyptian paper, and hung up 
in the Temple of Mecca, whence they were named Mozahebat, o^ 
golden , and Moallakat, or suspended. The poems of this sort were 
called Casseidas or Eclogues, seven of which are preserved in our 
libraries, and are considered as the finest that were written before 
the time of Mahommed. 

Essay on the Poetry of the Eastern Nations. Works, vol. xiv. p. 535. 


200 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


fessional studies and practice, all had a share of his at¬ 
tention ; but the principal object of his hopes and ambi¬ 
tion was the vacant seat on the bench in India, to which 
he looked forward with encreasing anxiety. The mar¬ 
riage of Lord Althorpe with Miss Bingham, daughter of 
Lord Lucan, was too interesting an event to pass unno¬ 
ticed by Mr. Jones; and he celebrated the nuptials of 
his friend in a very poetical ode, under the title of the 
Muse recalled .* This composition, the dictate of friend¬ 
ship, and offspring of genius, was written in the course 
of a few hours. His poetic talents were also exerted in 
a cause ever nearest to his heart, that of liberty: he re¬ 
strung the lyre of Alcaeus, and produced a short odef 
in the genuine spirit of the patriot and poet, whom he 
imitated. These were his amusements. The result of 
his professional studies was an Essay on the Law of 
Bailments. He divided^ and treated the subject under 
the distinct heads of analysis, history, and synthesis; and 
intimates an intention, if the method used in this tract 
should be approved, and on the supposition of future 
leisure, to discuss in the same form every branch of 
English law, civil and criminal, private and public; and 
he concludes the Essay with the following just and ele¬ 
gant reflections: 

It may be satisfactory to the reader, who does not possess the works of 
Sir Wm. Jones, to read his metrical imitation of a passage in the 4tk 
Eclogue. 

But ah! thou know’st not in what youthful play 
Our nights, beguil’d with pleasure, swam away; 

Gay songs, and cheerful tales, deceiv’d the time, 

And circling goblets made a tuneful chime; 

Sweet was the draught, and sweet the blooming maid., 

Who touch’d her lyre beneath the fragrant shade ; 

We sipp’d till mornitig purpled every plain ; 

The damsels slumber’d, but we sipp’d again ; 

The waking birds, that sung on every tree 
Their early notes, were not so blythe as we. 

* Works, vol. iv. p. 563. t Works, vol. iv. p. 571. 


201 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

“ The great system of jurisprudence, like that of the 
universe, consists of many subordinate systems, all of 
which are connected by nice links and beautiful depen¬ 
dencies; and each of them, as I have fully persuaded 
myself, is reducible to a few plain elements , either 
the wise maxims of national policy and general conve¬ 
nience, or the positive rules of our forefathers, which 
are seldom deficient in wisdom or utility: if law be a 
science , and really deserve so sublime a name, it must 
be founded on principle, and claim an exalted rank in 
the empire of reason ; but if it be merely an unconnected 
series of decrees and ordinances, its use may remain, 
though its dignity be lessened; and he will become the 
greatest lawyer who has the strongest habitual or artifi¬ 
cial memory . In practice, law certainly employs two of 
the mental faculties; reason in the primary investigation 
of points entirely new , and memory , in transmitting the 
reason of sage and learned men, to which our own ought 
invariably to yield, if not from a becoming modesty, at 
least from a just attention to that object, for which all 
laws are framed, and all societies instituted, the good 

OF MANKIND.” 

Nothing can more strongly evince the predilection of 
Mr. Jones for his professional studies, and his anxiety 
to acquire a knowledge of the general principles and 
practice of law, than a work which he undertook about 
this period; the translation of an Arabian poem on the 
Mahommedan law of succession to the property of intes¬ 
tates.* The subject of the original is dry, the diction 
obscure; it exhibits no rhetorical flowers, no poetical 
ornament ; and even the partiality of Mr. Jones for East¬ 
ern literature could never have induced him to engage 
in a work of this nature, if he had not thought it con- 


* Works, vol. iii. p. 489, 


202 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


nected with objects of information and utility. In the 
expectation of obtaining the situation of an Indian judge, 
this law tract probably recommended itself to his notice, 
as he could not but foresee that a knowledge of Mahom- 
raedan law would be essential to the performance of the 
duties of that station. 

The reader will recollect how much the public atten¬ 
tion was occupied in the year 1782 , with the attempts 
to procure, by constitutional means, a reformation of 
parliament. It would have been surprising if Mr. Jones 
had remained an idle spectator on an occasion which of 
all others was most interesting to his feelings. Led by 
his professional studies to an enthusiastic veneration for 
the principles of the constitution of his country, he vras 
anxious that the form of it should in all respects cor¬ 
respond with them; “ but, as the form in a course of 
“ years is apt to deviate widely from the spirit, it be- 
“ came (in his opinion) expedient almost every century 
“ to restore its genuine purity and loveliness.” These 
sentiments he expressed in a speech to the inhabitants 
of the counties of Middlesex and Surry, the cities of 
London and Westminster, and the borough of South¬ 
wark, assembled at the London Tavern on the 28 th of 
May, 1782 , to consider on the means of procuring a re¬ 
formation of parliament. The first resolution adopted by 
the meeting, and in which he expressed his most sincere 
concurrence, was, that petitions ought to be prepared 
for a more complete representation of the people; and 
the position which he endeavoured to impress upon the 
minds of his audience was this, that the spirit of our 
constitution requires a representation of the people, 
nearly equal, and nearly universal. This speech has 
long been before the public, and I shall therefore only 
notice his declaration in the advertisement prefixed to 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


£03 


it, that “ what offence the publication might give, either 
“ in part, or in the whole, was the last and least of his 
“ cares: his first and greatest was to speak on all occa- 
“ sions what he conceived to be just and true;” and the 
conclusion, in which he tells his audience that “ the 
“ people of England can only expect to be happy, and 
“ most glorious, while they are the freest; and can only 
“ become the freest, when they shall be the most virtuous 
“ and most enlightened of nations.” It was about the 
same period that he composed a very spirited ode, in 
imitation of Callistratus, which has appeared in a varie¬ 
ty of periodical publications, and is published in his 
works.* 

In the summer of this year Mr. Jones again visited 
France, in the intention of proceeding thence to Ame-r 
rica. The object of this journey was professional; to 
procure the restitution of a very large estate of a client 
and friend, which had been attached by an order of the 
States, who had threatened the confiscation of the pro¬ 
perty, unless the owner appeared in person to claim it. 
This object is mentioned by Mr. Jones in his corres¬ 
pondence, and his own evidence will be conclusive 
against some surmises and insinuations, which were 
propagated respecting the motives of his intended jour¬ 
ney. The irresolution of his friend, encreased by in¬ 
disposition, prevented the execution of the plan; and 
Mr. Jones, after having procured a passport from Frank¬ 
lin, the American minister at the court of France, re¬ 
turned to England through Normandy and Holland. 

For other details relating to his life, during the yearsi 
1781 and 1732, I refer to his correspondence. 


* Vol. iv. p. 573. 


204 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OP 


Mr. Jones to Mr. Cartwright. 
dear sir, May 1, 1781. 

I take the liberty to send you (as my Arabian 
poets are not yet ready to wait upon you) a paraphrase 
of a Greek fragment, which came into my head this 
spring in my way to Wales.*. I make no doubt of 

* In his journey through life, Mr. Jones seldom overlooked the 
opportunities of gathering the flowers which chance presented, or of 
displaying, for the entertainment of his friends, the stores which he had 
collected. A variety of poetical compositions was produced by him 
during his circuits, to enliven the intervals of legal labour. Of these a 
few have been preserved, and amongst them the following elegant song, 
the offspring of genius and innocent gaiety. It was written by Mr. 
Jones, some years before the period of his life at which I am now arrived 
when he was a very young man, during $ne of his first circuits, for the 
express purpose of being sung at a kind of fete champetre, which the 
barristers held on the banks of the Wye. 

Fair Tivy, how sweet are thy waves gently flowing, 

Thy wild oaken woods, and green eglantine bow’rs, 

Thy banks with the blush-rose and amaranth glowing, 

While friendship and mirth claim these labourless hours! 

Yet weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure which prosfiects can give : 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

How sweet is the odour of jasminq and roses, 

That Zephyr around us so lavishly flings ! 

Perhaps for Bleanpant * fresh perfume he composes, 

Or tidings from Bronwith f auspiciously brings ; 

Yet weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure which odours can give: 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

How sweet was the strain that enliven’d the spirit, 

And cheer’d us with numbers so frolic and free! 

The poet is absent; be just to his merit; 

Ah ! may he in lcve be more happy than we ; 

For weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure the muses can give : 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

* The seat of W. Brigstocke, Esq. 
f The seat of Tlios. Lloyd, Esq. 


20$ 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

your continuing to cultivate the Muses, by whom you 
are so highly favoured, and hope you will from time to 
time transmit the fruit of their favours to, &c. 

William Jones. 

How gay is the circle of friends round a table, 

Where stately Kilgarran * o’erhangs the brown dale, 

Where none are unwilling, and few are unable, 

To sing a wild song, or repeat a wild tale ! 

Yet weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure that friendship, can give: 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

No longer then pore over dark Gothic pages, 

To cull a rude gibb’rish from Neatham or Brooke ; 

/ Leave year-books and parchments to grey-bearded sages, 

V \ Be nature, and love, and fair woman, our book : 

For weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure that learning can give: 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

Admit that our labors were crown'd with full measure, 

And gold were the fruit of rhetorical flow’rs, 

That India supplied us with long-hoarded treasure, 

That Denevor,f Slebeck,^; and Coidsmore || were ours; 

Yet weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure that riches can give : 

Come, smile, damsels of Cai digan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

Or say, that, preferring fair Thames to fair Tivy, 

We gain’d the bright ermine robes, purple and red ; 

And peep’d thro’ long perukes, like owlets thro’ivy, 

Or say, that bright coronets blaz’d on our head; 

Yet weak is our vaunt, while something we want, 

More sweet than the pleasure that honors can give : 

Come, smile, damsels of Cardigan ; 

Love can alone make it blissful to live. 

♦ A ruin of a castle on the banks of the Tivy. 
f Seat of Lord Dinevor, near Landelo, in Carmarthen-. 

I Seat of-Philips, Esq. near Haverford West, 

II Seat of Thomas Lloyd, Esq. near Cardigan. 


205 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


From the Bishop of St, Asaph to Mr, Jones, 
dear sir, May 28, 1781. 

You have my best and earliest thanks for your ode 
in the true Grecian taste and spirit. I remember to 
have seen a fragment of Alcasus, but I cannot find it 
in Aristides, of whom I have only Cantern’s small 
edition. The seed you have found there you have 
quickened by the warmth of true genius into a noble 
production. I cannot help observing that Alcaeus, like 
other good poets and patriots, was condemned for life 
to be in the minority. I am, &c. 

J. St. Asapi-i. 

I hope you will not forget, that, wdien you have 
leisure your friends at Twyford will be very happy to 
see you. 


Mr, Burke to Mr. Jones. 

I do not know how I can justify myself in the 
liberty I take with you; but confiding in your humanity 
and condescension, I beg, if you have leisure for it, 
that you would be so kind as to breakfast with me, 
and assist me with your opinion and advice on the 
conduct of the Bengal Bill. The natives of the East, 
to whose literature you have done so much justice, are 
particularly under your protection for their rights. I 
have the honour to be, with the highest esteem and 
regard, dear Sir, 

Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, 

Edmund Burke. 

* Mr. Jones to H. A. Schultens. 

'June , 1781. 

You are not ignorant of my sentiments on this 
most abominable war; the enclosed imitation of an ode 


Appendix, No. 37 . 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


20 7 

of Alcaeus will clearly prove my detestation of tyranny, 
my Zealand exertions in the cause of liberty. Literature, 
which is, and ought to be, ever connected with huma¬ 
nity, will never, I trust, be degraded by a fratricidal war 
between the learned, particularly those who pursue the 
same studies. Do you therefore, though a native of 
Holland, preserve that affection for me, which I, an 
Englishman, have, and shall ever retain for you. 

I have translated into English, without the omission 
of a single line, the seven suspended poems of our 
Arabs, and mean to publish the whole with notes, and 
a dissertation on the ancient monuments of Arabia, in 
the next summer vacation. 

I possess the Commentary of Tabrizi; and I have 
been obligingly furnished from Trinity College, 
Cambridge, with the Paraphrase of Zouzini, and his 
short and excellent notes. At Oxford we have the 
notes and Persic version of Sadi, the Scholia of Ansari, 
and the fine edition of Obeidolla; but I am anxious to 
inspect all editions and commentaries. Your illustrious 
grandfather, for whose memory, as in duty bound, I 
preserve the greatest respect, pronounces these poems 
worthy of immortality, and says, if I do not mistake, 
that he transcribed the manuscript of Nahasi, at Leyden, 
for his own use. I also observed in the copious cata¬ 
logue of the Schultensian library, (one copy of which 
I delivered to my friend Hunter) these words, “ 6990. 
“ The seven Moallakat Arabic, most beautifully 

written.” Has this been purchased by any one? at 
what price will it be disposed of? I lament that I did 
not buy it, but being tied up at that time myself, by 
various important occupations, I could not bestow 
a thought on the suspended poems. 

Assist me, I beseech you, in the name of the muses, 
with materials for perfecting my work; collect from 


208 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


your stores any notes, or various readings which you 
may possess, and communicate them to me. I have 
mentioned in my preliminary discourse, your Philarabic 
family,* and have more to say about it, both true and 
honourable. I wish particularly to know whether any 
of the seven poems, excepting those of Amr’olkais and 
Tarafa, w r ill be published in Holland. You shall re¬ 
ceive my book, which will be elegantly bound by 
Baumgarten. 

My mother, wdiom I most tenderly loved, was ever 
in my opinion the best of women; I trust she is now 
the happiest. But my affliction for her loss is incon¬ 
solable. I shall be most happy to hear that you and 
your wife are well, and the early gratification of my 
wishes will be an additional pleasure. 

The Bishop of St, Asaph to Mr. Jones, 

DEAR SIR, Nov. 3, 1781. 

A letter from you is always welcome, come sooner 
or later, yet I cannot help rejoicing at that ceaseless 

* Albert Schultens the grandfather, and J. J. Schultens, the father 
of the person to whom this letter is addressed, were both distinguish¬ 
ed for their knowledge of Oriental, particularly Arabic, literature. 
The former was a German divine, born at Groningen, and taught 
Hebrew and the Oriental languages at Leyden, with great reputation, 
for many years before his death, which happened in 1741. He com¬ 
posed many works, which shew profound learning and just criticism* 
Biog. Brit. He translated and explained the fifty dissertations of 
Hariri, although he sent abroad but few of them, and published Anci¬ 
ent Memorials of Arabia, which Sir William Jones notices in an anni¬ 
versary discourse delivered before the Asiatic Society, in Calcutta, as 
the most pleasing of all his works. Of J. J. Schultens, his son, I have 
little information. In Reiske’s correspondence, published by his widow, 
there is one letter from him, dated Herborn, 1748, which manifests no 
ordinary zeal in the writer for the promotion of Arabic literature. I 
have no account of any publications by him, excepting two academical 
dissertations. The learning and labours of H. A. Schultens are suffi¬ 
ciently apparent from his own letters and those of Mr. Jones. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 209 

hurry of business, which occasioned your delay in 
writing, and made me lose a very valuable visit. Riches 
and reputation, after shewing a little coyness at first, 
are now making their advances at a very great rate, and 
will soon be as lavish of their charms as you could 
wish; yet I know you think too liberally, to let either 
your friends or your liberty suffer by their engrossing 
you too much. 

I thank you for the nuptial ode, which, notwithstand¬ 
ing its incorrectness, which you need not complain of, 
is the most genuine imitation of Pindar I have ever 
seen. I do not know whether I can assent to your 
criticism on the word replete , that it is never used in 
a good sense. Were it left to me, I would use it in 
no sense. It has but little meaning. It was never 
naturalized in conversation, or in prose, and I think 
makes no figure in verse. 

I have another present of value to thank you for...* 
your Essay on the Law of Bailments. To own the 
truth, your name to the advertisement made me impa¬ 
tient, and I had sent for it and read it before. It appears 
to me to be clear, just, and accurate, I mean as clear 
as the subject will permit. My want of law language, 
and perhaps of a legal understanding, made me feel 
great difficulty in following you through your very 
ingenious distinctions and consequences, of which I 
thought I could perceive the solidity. I foretell that 
this wid be your last work. For the future your bu¬ 
siness and the public will allow you to write no 
more. 

Though I fear it will not be consistent with your 
employment in Westminster-hall, I cannot help telling 
you, that for as many days as you can spare between 
this time and the meeting of parliament, you will find 
a warm bed and a hearty welcome at Chilbolton. Mrs. 

f f 


210 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Shipley and her daughters desire their compliments, 
and join in the invitation. 

I am, &x. 

J. St. Asaph. 

Mr. Jones to Mr. Cartwright . 
dear sir, Dec. 20, 1781. 

Since I received your obliging letter, an interval 
of six months has elapsed, but in all that interval, I 
have either been deeply engaged in professional labours, 
or confined by illness: I have enjoyed no rest. At this 
moment I am slowly recovering from a severe inflam¬ 
matory disorder; yet your letter and your fine sonnets 
have remained constantly on my mind, and I now take 
up my pen to thank you most warmly for the pleasure 
which they have given me. I hope my friend Watson 
has seen the noble wreath of laurel which your animated 
muse has woven for him. I entreat you to send me the 
two others, which I long to see. The few copies which 
were printed of the Latin ode are so dispersed, that I 
have not one for myself, and would print a few more, 
if a learned friend of mine had not engaged to publish 
it with notes, historical and critical, for want of which, 
it is in some parts obscure. You may depend on re¬ 
ceiving one of the first copies that can see the light, 
and my seven Arabian poets will wait upon you as soon 
ns the European dresses are finished. I take the liberty 
to enclose an ode composed without preparation, and 
almost without any premeditation: it is the work of a 
few hours. In truth, when I attended the wedding I 
had no thoughts of writing, but the young ladies would 
not hear of an excuse: you must therefore make all due 
allowance for poetry by compulsion. 

I am, &c. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


211 


Mr. Jones to Lord Althorpe . 

January 5, 1782. 

0 la bella cosa di far niente! This was my excla¬ 
mation, my clear lord, on the 12th of last month, when 
I found myself, as I thought, at liberty to be a rambler, 
or an idler, or any thing I pleased: but my mal di gola 
took ample revenge for my abuse and contempt of it, 
when I wrote to you, by confining me twelve days with 
a fever and quinsey; and I am now so cramped by the 
approaching session at Oxford, that I cannot make any 
long excursion. I enclose my tragical song of “ a 
“ shepherdess going,” with Mazzanti’s music, of which 
my opinion at present is, that the modulation is very 
artificial, and the harmony good, but that Pergolesi 
(whom the modern Italians are such puppies as to un¬ 
dervalue) would have made it more pathetic and heart¬ 
rending, if I may compose such a word. I long to 
hear it sung by Mrs. Poyntz. Pray present the en¬ 
closed, in my name, to Lady Althorpe. I hope that 
I shall in a short time be able to think of you, when I 
read these charming lines of Catullus:* 

And soon, to be completely blest, 

Soon may a young Torquatus rise; 

Who, hanging on his mother’s breast, 

To his known sire shall turn his eyes, 

Out-stretch his infant arms awhile, 

Half-ope his little lips, and smile. 

[Printed Translation.] 

What a beautiful picture! can Dominichino equal it? 

* The original is quoted by Mr. Jones: 

Torquatus volo parvulus. 

Matris e gremio sux, 

Porrigens teneras manus^ 

Dulce rideat ad patrem, 

Semi-hiante labello. 


212 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


How weak are all arts in comparison of poetry and 
rhetoric! Instead however of Torquatus , I would read 
Spencerus. Do you not think that I have discovered 
the true use of the fine arts, namely, in relaxing the 
1/ mind after toil? Man was born for labour; his confi¬ 
guration, his passions, his restlessness, all prove it; 
but labour would wear him out, and the purpose of it 
be defeated, if he had not intervals of pleasure; and unless 
that pleasure be innocent , both he and society must suffer. 
Now what pleasures are more harmless, if they be nothing 
else, than those afforded by polite arts and polite literature? 
love was given us by the Author of our being as the 
reward of virtue, and the solace of care; but the base 
and sordid forms of artificial (which I oppose to natural) 
society, in which we live, have encircled that heavenly 
rose with so many thorns, that the wealthy alone can 
gather it with prudence. On the other hand, mere 
pleasure, to which the idle are not justly entitled, soon 
satiates, and leaves a vacuity in the mind more unplea¬ 
sant than actual pain. A just mixture, or interchange 
of labour and pleasures, appears alone conducive to such 
happiness as this life affords. Farewel, I have no room 
to add my useless name, and still more useless profes¬ 
sions of friendship. 

* * * * * * 

The sentiments expressed in this letter do credit to 
the heart and understanding of Mr. Jones; they exhibit 
the pure feelings of an uncorrupted mind; but, in giving 
them to the public, I deem it a duty to observe, that 
though a just mixture of labours and pleasures (such 
innocent pleasures as Mr. Jones describes, and such 
only as he ever enjoyed) is greatly conducive to the 
happiness of this life, the true foundation of real hap¬ 
piness must be sought in a higher source. In the un- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


213 


premeditated effusions of friendly correspondence, ex¬ 
pressions are not to be scrupulously weighed, nor rigor¬ 
ously criticised; but I feel a confidence, which the 
reader, if he peruse the whole of these memoirs, will 
participate with me, that Mr. Jones would have himself 
approved the observation which I have made upon his 
letter. 

In March of this year a proposal was made to Mr. 
Jones, to become a member of the society for consti¬ 
tutional information; and it appears, from a letter which 
he wrote to the secretary of the society, in reply, that he 
readily accepted it. To prove that he was not regard¬ 
less of the objects of the society’s institution, a short 
time afterwards he addressed a second letter to the 
secretary, for the express purpose of confuting some 
doctrines in the writings of the celebrated Fielding, 
which he thought dangerous to. the constitution of Eng¬ 
land. I insert both from a periodical publication of 1787, 
in which they have been preserved. 

Mr . Jones to Mr. Thomas Teates. 
sir, Lamb's Buildings , April 25, 1782. 

It was not till within these very few days that I received, 
on my return from the circuit, your obliging letter, 
dated the 18th of March, which, had I been so fortunate 
as to receive earlier, I should have made a point of 
answering immediately. The society for constitutional 
information, by electing me one of their members, will 
confer upon me an honour, which I am wholly uncon¬ 
scious of deserving, but which is so flattering to me, 
that I accept of their offer with pleasure and gratitude. 
I should indeed long ago have testified my regard for 
so useful an institution by an offer of my humble service 
in promoting it, if I had not really despaired in my 


214 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


present situation of being able to attend your meetings 
as often as I should ardently wish. 

My future life shall certainly be devoted to the sup¬ 
port of that excellent constitution, which it is the object 
of your society to unfold and elucidate; and from this 
resolution, long and deliberately made, no prospects, 
no connections, no station, here or abroad, no fear of 
danger, or hope of advantage to myself, shall ever deter 
or allure me. 

A form of government, so apparently conducive to 
the true happiness of the community, must be admired 
as soon as it is understood; and, if reason and virtue 
have any influence in human breasts, ought to be pre¬ 
served, by any exertions, and at any hazard. Care 
must now be taken, lest, by reducing the regal power 
to its just level, we raise the aristocratical to a dangerous 
height; since it is from the people that we can deduce 
the obligation of our laws, and the authority of magis¬ 
trates. 

On the people depend the welfare, the security, and 
the permanence of every legal government; in the peo¬ 
ple must reside all substantial power; and to the people 
must all those, in whose ability and knowledge we 
sometimes wisely, often imprudently, confide, be always 
accountable for the due exercise of that power with 
which they are for a time entrusted. 

If the properties of ail good government be considered 
as duly distributed in the different parts of our limited 
republic, goodness ought to be the distinguished attri¬ 
bute of the crown, wisdom of the aristocracy, but power 
and fortitude of the people. 

May justice and humanity prevail in them all! 

I am, Sir, 

Your very faithful and obedient servant, 

W. Jones. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


21 5 


Mr. Jones to Mr. Thomas Teates . 

Lamb's Buildings , Temple , y^rae 7, 17S2. 

SIR, 

1 lately met with some dangerous doctrine con¬ 
cerning the constitution of England, in the works of an 
admired English writer; the doctrine so dangerous, 
that an immediate confutation of it seems highly neces¬ 
sary ; and the writer so admired, that his opinions, good 
or bad, must naturally have a very general influence. 
It was the opinion, in short, of the late ingenious Henry 
Fielding, that “ the constitution of this island was 
“ nothing fixed, but just as variable as its weather;” 
and he treats the contrary notion as a ridiculous error: 
now if this doctrine be w r ell founded, our society will 
soon, I imagine, think it wise to dissolve themselves, 
since it is hardly consistent with the gravity of sensible 
men to collect and impart information, like the makers 
of almanacks, upon any thing so uncertain as the 
weather: if, on the other hand, the error be palpably 
on the side of Mr. Fielding, you will not only proceed 
with assiduity in your laudable design of rendering our 
constitution universally known, but will be at least equal 
in usefulness and true dignity to any society that was 
ever formed. His words are these, in the preface to 
his tract, “ On the Increase of Robberies,” dedicated 
to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke: “ There is nothing so 
“ much talked of, and so little understood, in this coun- 
“ try, as the constitution. It is a word in the mouth of 
44 every man; and yet, when wc come to discourse of the 
“ matter, there is no subject on which our ideas are 
“ more confused and perplexed. Some, when they 
“ speak of the constitution, confine their notions to the 
“law; others to the legislature; others again, to the 
“ governing or executive part; and many there are who 
“jumble all these together in one idea. One error, 


216 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


44 however, is common to them all; for all seem to have 
44 the conception of something uniform and permanent, 
44 as if the constitution of England partook rather of 
44 the nature of the soil than of the climate, and was as 
44 fixed and constant as the former, not as changing and 
“ variable as the latter. Now, in this word, the con- 
44 stitution, are included the original and fundamental 
44 laws of the kingdom, from whence all powers are de- 
44 rived, and by which they are circumscribed; all 
44 legislative and executive authority, all those municipal 
44 provisions, which are commonly called laws; and, 
44 lastly, the customs, manners, and habits of the peo- 
44 pie. These, joined together, do, I apprehend, form 
44 the political, as the several members of the body, 
44 the animal economy, with the humours and habit, 
44 compose that which is called the natural consti- 
44 tutjon.” 

He adds a paragraph or two of elegant, but idle, allu¬ 
sions to the Platonic philosophy, as if we lived under the 
polity *of Plato, not in the days of William the Norman. 
Now, of all words easy to be comprehended, the easiest, 
in my humble opinion, is the word constitution; it is 
the great system of public, in contra-distinction to pri¬ 
vate and criminal, law, and comprises all those articles 
which Blackstone arranges in his first volume, under 
the rights of persons, and of which he gives a perspicu¬ 
ous analysis. Whatever, then, relates to the rights of 
persons, either absolute rights, as the enjoyment of li¬ 
berty, security, and property, or relative, that is in the 
public relations of magistrates and people, makes a part 
of that majestic whole, which we properly call the con¬ 
stitution. Of those magistrates some are subordinate, 
and some supreme; as the legislative or parliament, 
which ought to consist of delegates from every indepen¬ 
dent voice in the nation; and the executive or the king, 
whose legal rights for the general good are called prero- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


2ir 


gative. The people are the aggregate body or com¬ 
munity, and are in an ecclesiastical, civil, military, or 
maritime state. 

This constitutional or public law is partly unwritten, 
and grounded upon immemorial usage, and partly writ¬ 
ten or enacted by the legislative power; but the unwrit¬ 
ten or common law contains the true spirit of our con¬ 
stitution: the written has often most unjustifiably alter¬ 
ed the form of it: the common law is the collected wis¬ 
dom of many centuries; having been used and approved 
by successive generations; but the statutes frequently 
contain the whims of a few leading men; and sometimes 
of the mere individuals employed to draw them; lastly, 
the unwritten law is eminently favourable, and the writ¬ 
ten generally hostile to the absolute rights of persons. 

But, though this inestimable law be called unwritten, 
yet the only evidence of it is in writing, preserved in the 
public records, judicial, official, and parliamentary, and 
explained in works of acknowledged authority. Posi¬ 
tive acts of the legislature may, indeed, change the form 
of the constitution; but, as in the system of private law, 
the narrowness or rigour of our forensic rules may be 
enlarged or softened by the interposition of parliament 
(for our courts of equity are wholly of a different na¬ 
ture), so all legislative provisions, which oppose the 
spirit of the constitution, may be corrected agreeable to 
that very spirit, by the people or nation at large, who 
form, as it were, the high court of appeal, in cases of 
constitutional equity; and their sense must be collected 
from the petitions which they present, expressed with 
moderation and respect, yet with all the firmness which 
their cause justifies, and all the dignity which truly be¬ 
comes them. I am, Sir, 

Your very faithful humble servant, 

W. Jones. 


218 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Mr. Jones to the Bishop of St. Asaph. 
my lord, Wimbledon Park, Sep. 13, 1782. 

If your lordship received my letter from Calais, you 
will not be much surprised to see the date of this, and 
the place where I now am waiting, while lady Spencer is 
making morning visits. Mr. and Mrs. Poyntz have this 
instant left us. Lord Althorpe being in Northampton¬ 
shire, I must give myself some consolation for my dis¬ 
appointment in missing him, by scribbling a few lines 
to him, as soon as I have finished these with which I 
now trouble your lordship. My excursion to the United 
Provinces (wdiich has been the substitute for my intend¬ 
ed expedition to the United States) was extremely 
pleasing and improving to me. I returned last Mon¬ 
day, and finding all my friends dispersed in various parts 
of England, am going for a few days into Buckingham¬ 
shire, whence I shall go to Oxford, and must continue 
there till the sessions. Should your lordship be in 
Hamphire any time in October, and should it be in all 
respects convenient to you, I will accept, this year, with 
great pleasure, the obliging invitation to Chilbolton, 
which I was unfortunately prevented from accepting last 
year. I lament the unhappy dissentions among our 
great men, and clearly see the vanity of my anxious wish, 
that they would have played in tune some time linger 
in the political concert. 

The delays about the Indian judgeship have, it is true, 
greatly injured me; but, with my patience and assiduity, 
I could easily recover my lost ground. I must, how¬ 
ever, take the liberty here to allude to a most obliging 
letter of your lordship from Chilbolton, which I received 
so long ago as last November, but was prevented from 
answering till you came to town. It was inexpressibly 
flattering to me; but my intimate knowledge of the 11 a- 


219 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

ture of my profession obliges me to assure you, that it 
requires the whole man , and admits of no concurrent 
pursuits; that, consequently, I must either give it up, 
or it will engross me so much, that I shall not for some 
years be able ts enjoy the society of my friends , or the 
sweets of liberty . Whether it be a wise part to live 
uncomfortably, in order to die wealthy, is another ques¬ 
tion ; but this I know by experience, and have heard old 
practitioners make the same observation, that a lawyer, 
who is in earnest, must be chained to his chambers and 
the bar for ten or twelve years together. In regard to 
your lordship’s indulgent and flattering prediction, that 
my Essay on Bailment would be my last work, and that, 
for the future, business and the public would allow me 
to write no more, I doubt whether it will be accomplish¬ 
ed, whatever maybe my practice or situation; for I 
have already prepared many tracts on jurisprudence; 
and when I see the volumes written by Lord Coke, 
whose annual gains were twelve or fourteen thousand 
pounds, by Lord Bacon, Sir Matthew Hale, and a num¬ 
ber of judges and chancellors, I cannot think that I should 
be hurt in my professional career, by publishing now and 
then a law tract upon some interesting branch of the 
science; and the science itself is indeed so complex, 
^ that, without writing , which is the chain of memory , it 
is impossible to remember a thousandth part of what we 
read or hear. Since it is my wish, therefore, to become 
in time as great a lawyer as Sulpicius, I shall probably 
leave as many volumes of my works, as he is said to 
have written. As to politics, I begin to think, that the 
natural propensity of men to dissent from one another, 
will prevent them, in a corrupt age, from uniting in any 
laudable design; and at present I have nothing to do but 
to rest on my oars , which the Greek philosophers, I be- 


220 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


lieve, called a word which Cicero applies in one 

of his letters to the same subject. 

My best respects to the ladies; for whom I would 
certainly have brought some Virginia nightingales, if 
my western expedition had taken place, since I was in¬ 
formed by the captain, with whom I should have sailed, 
that they might have been kept in the cabin without any 
danger. 

Mr. Jones to Mr. Baron Eyre. 
dear sir, Oct. 2, 1782. 

I have been in England about a fortnight, and was 
made happy by learning, in John-street, that you had 
long been restored to health from the illness which .con¬ 
fined you, to my inexpressible concern, at the time 
when I set out for the continent. The cause of my 
return is, in few words, this; I ought to have foreseen, 
what I nevertheless did not expeet, that the same 
timidity or imbecility, which made my unhappy friend 
declare, that he neither could nor would go to Virginia 
without me, would make him declare, when he saw the 
sails and the weaves, that he neither would nor could go 
at ail. A dread of some imaginary danger so ener¬ 
vated him, that he kept his bed, and w^rote me word, 
that if he staid a week longer at Nantes, he should lose 
his reason or his life. My expostulations had some 
little effect, but there was no dependance, I found, on 
a man who had none, he confessed, upon himself; and 
when I discovered, that no ship, wdth even tolerable 
accommodation, would sail till September, so that I 
could not keep my word with my friends in England, 
by returning from America before the new year, I came 
back, through Normandy, about the middle of August, 
and having a few weeks to spare, made a very pleasant 
and improving excursion into Holland, which I tra- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


221 


versed from south to north. The detail of my expedi¬ 
tion may not, perhaps, be unentertaining to you, when 
I have the pleasure of conversing with you at your 
leisure; and I am not without hope of enjoying that 
pleasure, if you continue at Ruscombe, before the term 
begins. I stay here till the sessions are over, and 
would immediately after take my chance of finding you 
in Berkshire, but am called upon to keep an old promise 
of visiting the bishop of St. Asaph, near Andover, and 
must spend a day or two with my friend Poyntz. I can 
easily conceive how little time you can have to write 
letters; yet, if you could find a moment to let me know 
how long you propose to remain in the country, I 
would not be in your neighbourhood without paying 
my respects to you ; and I would indeed have taken 
Ruscombe in my way to Oxford, if I had not been 
engaged to make a visit in Buckinghamshire. As to 
myself, I find such distraction among my political 
friends, that I should be glad (if I had no other motive) 
to be fixed in India, at the distance of 16,000 miles 
from all their animosities; but, I am unhappily more 
unsettled than ever; for * * * * writes me word that 
he has nothing more at heart than to open some situation 
for me in India. What this means I know not, but it 
looks like some new plan, which may probably hang 
undecided from session to session. On the whole I 
greatly fear, that it would have been happy for me, and 
perhaps for millions, if India had never existed, or if 
we had known as little of it as of Japan. 

Mr, Jones to Lord Althorpe, 

MY DEAR LORD, Oct, 5, 1782. 

Your friendly letter caught me in Buckingham¬ 
shire, before I came to college, where I have been for 
some days sole governor, and almost sole inhabitant, of 


222 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Alfred’s peaceful mansion, till Mr. Windham sur¬ 
prised me agreeably, by coming with a design of passing 
some time in this academical retreat. You, in the 
mean while, are taking healthful and pleasing exercise 
in Norfolk, where Mr. Fox, I understand, is also shoot¬ 
ing partridges ; and you are both ready, no doubt, to 
turn your firelocks against the Dutch, should they 
make their appearance in your fields; when I was in 
Zealand they expected us, and if they stand upon the 
ceremony of the first visit, we shall not, I imagine, 
meet very soon. 

In regard to my expectation of seeing a little good 
attained for our miserable country, I am not apt to be 
sanguine, but rather inclined to fear the worst than to 
expect the best. I rejoice, however, at the distrust 
conceived by many honest men of those now in power; 
my opinion is, that power should always be distrusted , 
in whatever hands it is placed. As to America, I know 
not what * * * * thinks; but this I know, that the 
sturdy transatlantic yeomanry will neither be dragooned 
nor bamboozled out of their liberty. His principles, 
in regard to our internal government, are, unless I am 
deluded by his professions, such as my reason approves, 
and, which is better, such as I know to be approved in 
clear terms by our recorded constitution. The friends 
of were too monarchical, and those of * * * * 

far too aristocratical for me ; and if it were possible to 
see an administration too democratical, I should 
equally dislike it. There must be a mixture of all 
the powers, in due proportions weighed and measured 
by the laws, or the nation cannot exist without misery 
or shame. I may write all this consistently with good 
manners and with friendship, because I know the 
excellence of your understanding and soundness of 
your principles; and independently of my presumption 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


222 


that all your actions must be wise and just, I see and 
applaud the motive which must have induced you to 
resign an office, which you were not at first much in¬ 
clined to accept. I am confident also, that you would 
as little endure a Swedish monarchy , as a Venetian 
aristocracy. I enclose a little jeu d'esprit ,* which I 
wrote at Paris. It was printed here by a society, who, 
if they will stear clear of party, will do more good to 
Britain than all the philosophers and antiquaries of 
Somerset House. But to speak the truth, I greatly 
doubt, whether they, or any other men in this country, 
can do it substantial good. The nation, as Demos¬ 
thenes said, will be fed like a consumptive patient, with 
chicken-broth and panada, which will neither suffer 
him to expire, nor keep him wholly alive. As to my¬ 
self, if my friends are resolved to assail one another, 
instead of concurring in any great and laudable effort 
for the general safety, I have no course left, but to 
act and speak rightly, to the best of my understanding; 
but I have an additional motive for wishing to obtain 
an office in India, where I might have some prospect of 
contributing to the happiness of millions, or at least of 
alleviating their misery, and serving my country essen¬ 
tially, whilst I benefited my fellow-creatures. 

When the sessions are over, I shall hasten to Chilbol- 
ton, and perform an old promise of passing a few days 

* The jeu d'esjirit , mentioned here, is the dialogue between a 
farmer and country gentleman on the principles of government. In 
Dr. Towers’s Tract on the Rights of Juries, the following passage, re. 
lating to it, occurs : * 

“ After a bill of inuictment had been found against the Dean of St. 
u Asaph, for the publication of the edition which was printed in Wales^ 
“ Sir William Jones sent a letter to lord Kenyon, then chief justice 
“ of Chester, in which he avowed himself to be the author of the 
t( dialogue, and maintained that every position in it was strictly con- 
“ formable to the laws and constitution of England.” p. llT. 


224 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


with the best of Bishops; after which I shall take Midg- 
ham, and Baron Eyre’s at Ruscombe, in my way to 
London, where I must be at the beginning of the term. 
A Persian book is just printed here, said to have been 
composed by Tamerlane, who confesses, that he 
governed men by four great arts, bribing, dividing, 
amusing , and keeping in suspense. How far it may be 
an object with modern Tamerlanes, or sultans of India, 
to govern me, I cannot tell; but as I cannot be bribed , 
without losing my senses, nor divided without losing 
my life, I will neither be amused , nor kept long in sus¬ 
pense ; and, indeed, I have so high an opinion of lord 
Ashburton, who never professes more than he means, 
that I do not suspect any artifice in that business. 

Mr. Jones to Lady Spencer. 

madam, Chilbolton , Oct. 21, 1782. 

Though I wrote so lately to your Ladyship, and 
cannot hope, by any thing I can now say, to make 
amends for the dulness of my last letter, yet, as some of 
the ladies here are this moment writing to St. James’s 
Place, I cannot prevail on myself to decline joining so 
agreeable a party, especially as the very favourable ac¬ 
counts which were last night received of Lord Spencer’s 
health have given me spirits, and made me eager to of¬ 
fer my sincere congratulations. Yes, I rejoice with the 
truest sincerity, that his lordship’s health is so likely 
to be re-established; for I cannot name a man of rank in 
the nation, in whose health the public, and all mankind, 
as well as his family and friends, are more truly inte¬ 
rested. I have passed my time at Chilbolton so agree¬ 
ably, that ten days have appeared like one; and it gives 
me concern that the near approach of the term will 
oblige me to leave so charming and improving a society 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


22$ 


at the end of this week; after which I shall hope to find 
my friends at Midgham in perfect health; and then, 
fare Wei, a long farewel to all my rational and interest¬ 
ing pleasures, which must be succeeded by the drudgery 
of drawing bills in equity, the toil of answering cases, 
the squabbles of the bar, and the more vexatious dis- 
sentions and conflicts of the political world, which I 
vainly deprecated, and now as vainly deplore. How 
happy would it be, if statesmen had more music in their 
souls, and could bring themselves to consider, that 
what harmony is in a concert, such is union in a state; 
but in the great orchestra of politics, I find so many 
musicians out of humour, and instruments out of tune, 
that I am more tormented by such dissonance than the 
man in Hogarth’s print, and am more desirous than ever 
of being transported to the distance of five thousand 
leagues from all this fatal discord. Without a meta¬ 
phor, I lament with anguish the bitterness and animo¬ 
sity with which some of my friends have been assailing 
others; as if empty altercation could be the means of 
procuring any good to this afflicted country. I find 
myself in more instances than one, like poor Petrarch, 
wishing to pass my days 

Fra ’magnanimi pochi, a chi ’1 ben piace, 

Di lor chi m’ assecura, 

Io vo, gridando, pace , pace, pace . 

....but I shall not be heard, and must console myself 
with the pleasing hope, that your Ladyship, and the few 
friends of virtue and humanity will agree in this sen¬ 
timent with, See. 

William Jones. 

From the Dutchess of Devonshire to Mr . Jones . 
my dear mr. jones, Plimton, Oct. 28 , 1782 . 

I am very happy that the fear of losing a privilege, 
h h 


226 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


which you are so good as to say is precious to you, has 
induced you to write to me; for I assure you, that your 
letters give me very great pleasure, and that they, as 
well as the few times in which we meet, make me re¬ 
gret very much, that the turn of your public engage¬ 
ments take you so much from societies where you are 
wished for. 

I agree with you that the political world is strangely 
torn. If you had been in parliament at this crisis, you 
would have felt yourself in an uncomfortable situation, 
I confess; but I cannot think, that with the good whig 
principles you are blessed with, private friendships or 
connections would have prevailed on you to remain, 
silent or inactive. 

Chi vuol Catone amico, 

Facilmente l’avra : sia fido a Roma. 

This, I think, would have been the test of your polir 
tical friendship. 

I am rejoiced that there is a chance of your returning 
to poetry. I had a very valuable present made me by 
Dr. Blagden, physician to the camp, of your ode in imi¬ 
tation of Callistratus. I wish I understood Greek, that 
I might read something Mr. Paradise has written at the 
top of it. I will attempt to copy it; and after the vari¬ 
ous characters I have, in days of yore , seen you decy¬ 
pher, I will not despair of your making out Greek 
though written by me, 

A< xctpires repevos rt A ctSelr oirep sia* 

IIe<r£<j3, Z evpov lejviova. 

I shall expect to see the poem something sooner than 
the rest of your friends; and, I assure you, the having 
so seldom the pleasure of meeting you, does not 
diminish the sincerity, with which I shall ever retain 

* The Graces, seeking a shrine that would never decay, found the soul 
®f Jones. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


227 


that title....if you are still at Chilbolton, pray give my 
love to the family there, and tell Miss Shipley to write 
to me. 

My seal is a talisman, which if you can send me the 
explanation of, I shall be much obliged to you. 

# $ * * * 

In the beginning of 1783, Mr. Jones published his 
translation of the seven Arabian poems, which he had 
finished in 1781. It was his intention to have prefixed 
to this work a discourse on the antiquity of the Arabian 
language and characters, on the manners of the Arabs 
in the age immediately preceding that of Mahommed, 
and other interesting information respecting the poems, 
and the lives of the authors, with a critical history of 
their works; but he could not command sufficient 
leisure for the execution of it. Some of the subjects, 
intended for this dissertation, appeared in a discourse 
on the Arabs, which he composed some years after¬ 
wards, and, from the manner in which it was written, 
it is impossible not to regret the irrecoverable loss of 
the larger discussion which he originally proposed. 
The poems present us with a curious specimen of the 
manners of the natives of Arabia, and, on this account, 
must be particularly interesting to those who consider 
the study of human nature, in all its varieties, as an in¬ 
structive subject of contemplation. “ They exhibit 
“ (to use the words of Mr. Jones) an exact picture of 
“ the virtues and vices of the Arabs in the age of the 
<< seven poets, their wisdom and their folly, and shew 
“ what may be constantly expected from men of open 
“ hearts and boiling passions, with no law to control, 
“ and little religion to restrain them. 

The period was now arrived, when Mr. Jones had 
the happiness to gain the accomplishment of his most 


228 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


anxious wishes. In March, 1783, during the adminis¬ 
tration of Lord Shelbourne, he was appointed a judge of 
the supreme court of judicature at Fort William, at 
Bengal, on which occasion the honour of knighthood 
was conferred upon him; and, in the April following, 
he married Anna Maria Shipley, the eldest daughter of 
the bishop of St. Asaph. I have remarked the early? 
impression made upon the affections of Sir William 5 
Jones by this lady, and the honourable determination 
which he formed upon that occasion ; and if I should 
have succeeded in imparting to my readers any portion 
of that interest which I feel in his personal concerns, 
they will see him with pleasure receiving the rewards 
of principle and affection. 

The bishop of St. Asaph, of whose respectable cha¬ 
racter and high literary reputation it is unnecessary to 
remind the public, possessed too enlightened an under¬ 
standing not to appreciate the early distinguished talents 
and virtues of Sir William Jones, and their friendship 
was cemented by an union of political principles, and 
the zealous admiration each felt for the constitution of 
their country. The bishop, in the choice of a son-in- 
law, had every reason to indulge the pleasing hope that 
he had consulted, as far as human foresight can extend, 
the happiness of his beloved daughter; nor were his 
expectations disappointed. 

For his appointment to India, Mr. Jones was indebted 
to the friendship of Lord Ashburton. In October, 1782 
I find a letter from his lordship to Mr. Jones, with the 
following words: “ You will give me credit for not 
“ being indifferent about the important stake still left 
“ in India, or your particular interest in it, in which I 
44 consider that of the public so materially involved.” 
The intelligence of his success was communicated to 
Mr. Jones, in the following letter of congratulation, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 229 

to which I subjoin one from the celebrated Franklin on 
the same occasion. 

MY DEAR SIR, March 3, 1783. 

It is with little less satisfaction to myself than it 
can give you, that I send you the inclosed, and I do 
assure you there are few events, in which I could have 
felt so sensible a mortification, as in that of your finally 
missing this favourite object. The weather suggests 
to me, as no slight hope of congratulation, your being 
relieved from such a journey and under such circum¬ 
stances, as your last favour intimates you had in con¬ 
templation for Wednesday; but when I consider this 
appointment as securing to you at once, two of the first 
objects of human pursuit, those of ambition and love, 
I feel it a subject of very serious and cordial congratu¬ 
lation, which I desire you to accept, and to convey 
accordingly. 

I am with every good wish, dear Sir, 

Your faithful humble servant. 

Ashburton. 

dear friend, P assy March 17, 1783. 

I duly received your obliging letter of Nov. 15. 
You will have since learnt how much I was then and 
have been continually engaged in public affairs, and 
your goodness will excuse my not having answered it 
sooner. You announced your intended marriage with 
my much respected friend Miss Anna Maria, which I 
assure you gave me great pleasure, as I cannot conceive 
a match more likely to be happy, from the amiable 
qualities each of you possess so plentifully. You 
mention its taking place as soon as a prudent attention 
to worldly interests would permit. I just now learn 


230 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


from Mr. Hodgson, that you are appointed to an 
honourable and profitable place in the Indies ; so I 
expect now soon to hear of the wedding, and to receive 
the profile. With the good bishop’s permission, I will 
join my blessing with his; adding my wishes that you 
may return from that corrupting country, with a great 
deal of money honestly acquired, and with full as much 
virtue as you carry out with you. 

The engraving of my medal, which you know was 
projected before the peace, is but just finished. None 
are yet struck in hard metal, but will in a few days. 
In the mean time, having this good opportunity by Mr. 
Penn, I find you one of the epreuves. You will see 
that I have profited by some of your ideas, and adopted 
the mottos you were so kind as to furnish. 

I am at present quite recovered from my late illness, 
and flatter myself that I may in the ensuing summer be 
able to undertake a trip to England, for the pleasure of 
seeing once more my dear friends there, among whom 
the bishop and his family stand foremost in my estima¬ 
tion and affection. 

I thank you for your good wishes respecting me. 
Mine for your welfare and prosperity are not less 
earnest and sincere ; being with great truth, dear Sir, 
Your affectionate friend, 

And most obedient servant, 

Benjamin Franklin. 

* * # * * * 

I have mentioned the literary productions of Sir 
William Jones, in the order in which they were pub¬ 
lished. I observe, however, two compositions, which 
had escaped my attention : an abridged History of the 
Life of Nadir Shah, in English, and a History of the 


231 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Persian language, intended to be prefixed to the first 
edition of his Persian Grammar.* 

A long list might be formed of works which he 
meditated at dilferent periods. He had projected a 
Treatise on Maritime Contracts, and, with a view to 
the completion of this work, he commissioned a friend 
to purchase for him the Collections of Heineccius, 
containing the Dissertations of Stypman and Kerrick, 
with any other works that could be procured on the 
same subject. It was also his intention to re-publish 
Lyttleton’s Treatise on Tenures, from the first edition 
of 1482, with a new translation, explanatory notes, and 
a commentary ; and to prefix an Introductory Discourse 
on the Laws of England. He had made a considerable 
progress towards the completion of this work, which 
still exists, but not in a sufficient degree of advance¬ 
ment for publication. 

* The reader will peruse with pleasure the following lines from 
the Arabic, written by Sir William Jones, in 1783, and addressed to 
lady Jones. 

While sad suspense and chill delay 
Bereave my wounded soul of rest, 

New hopes, new fears, from day to day. 

By turns assail my lab’ring breast. 

My heart, which ardent love consumes, 

Throbs with each agonizing thought: 

So flutters with entangled plumes, 

The lark in wily meshes caught. 

There she, with unavailing strain, 

Pours, thro’ the night, her warbled grief: 

The gloom retires, but not her pain; 

The dawn appears, but not relief. 

Two younglings wait the parent bird, 

Their thrilling sorrows to appease : 

She comes....ah ! no: the sound they heard 
Was but a whisper of the breeze. 


232 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

I have remarked the extraordinary avidity with which 
he availed himself of every opportunity to acquire 
knowledge; but I have omitted to mention his attend¬ 
ance during a course of anatomical lectures, by the 
celebrated Hunter, and amongst other sciences, which 
he diligently and successfully cultivated, I have still to 
mention the mathematics, in which he had advanced so 
far, as to read and understand Newton’s Principia. 

The review of the various acquisitions of Sir William 
Jones in science and literature, will be introduced in 
another place; and, having brought to a close that 
portion of his life which was passed in England, I must 
now prepare the reader to transport himself with him to 
Hindustan. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


233 


SIR WILLIAM JONES embarked for India in 
the Crocodile frigate, and in April, 1783, left his native 
country (to which he was never to return) with the un¬ 
availing regret and affectionate wishes of his numerous 
friends and admirers. 

As to himself, the melancholy impressions which he 
could not but feel on such an occasion, were alleviated 
by various considerations. The expectations of five 
years were now accomplished in the attainment of ,his 
wishes: he anticipated the utility of his official labours 
to the public, and the occupation, so peculiarly delight¬ 
ful to him, of investigating unexplored mines of litera¬ 
ture. Sir William Jones was now in his thirty-seventh 
year, in the full vigour of his faculties, and he looked 
forward with ardour to the pleasures and advantages 
arising from his situation in India, without any appre¬ 
hension that the climate of that country would prove 
hostile to his constitution. A difference of opinion on 
great political questions, without diminishing his regard 
for his friends, had narrowed his habits of intercourse 
with some whom he sincerely esteemed; and he felt, 
therefore, the less regret in quitting those whose princi¬ 
ples he wished to approve, but from whom an adherence 
to his own frequently compelled him to dissent. He 
reflected with pleasure on the independency of his sta¬ 
tion; that the line of duty, which it prescribed, was 
straight and defined; and, in leaving his native country, 
for which he retained the warmest affection, he was not 
sorry to abandon ail political cares and discussions. Rut 
his greatest consolation and enjoyment were derived 
from the society of Lady Jones. 

To those who are destitute of internal resources, 


234 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


whose habits have led them to seek for amusement in 
the miscellaneous occurrences and topics of the day only, 
a sea voyage is a period of fatigue, languor, and anxiety. 
To Sir William Jones every new scene was interesting; 
and his mind, exercised by incessant study and reflec¬ 
tion, possessed an inexhaustible fund of subjects, which 
he could at pleasure select and apply to the purposes of 
recreation and improvement; but his application, dur¬ 
ing his voyage, was more particularly directed to those 
studies, by which he was to enlarge the requisite quali¬ 
fications for discharging the duties of his public station, 
with satisfaction to himself and benefit to the commu¬ 
nity.* 

* The following memorandum was written by Sir William Jones dur¬ 
ing his voyage: 

Objects of Enquiry during my residence in Asia. 

1. The Laws of the Hindus and Mahommedans. 

2. The History of the Ancient World. 

3. Proofs and Illustrations of Scripture. 

4. Traditions concerning the Deluge, See. 

5. Modern Politics and Geography of Hindustan. 

6. Best Mode of governing Bengal. 

7. Arithmetic and Geometry, and mixed Sciences of the Asiatics. 

8. Medicine, Chemistry, Surgery, and Anatomy of the Indians. 

9. Natural Productions of India. 

10. Poetry, Rhetoric, and Morality of Asia. 

11. Music of the Eastern Nations. 

l£. The Shi-King, or 300 Chinese Odes. 

lo. The best accounts of Tibet and Cashmir. 

14. Trade, Manufactures, Agriculture, and Commerce of India. 

15. Mogul Constitution, contained in the Defteri, Alemghiri, and 

Ayein Acbari. 

16. Mahratta Constitution. 

To print and publish the Gosfiel of St. Luke in Arabic. 

To publish Law Tracts in Persian or Arabic. 

To print and publish the Psalms of David in Persian Verse. 

To compose, if God grant me life, 

1. Elements of the Laws of England. 

Model..,, The Essay on Bailment....Aristotle. 

2. The History of the American War. 

Model.... Thucydides and Polybius. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


235 


The following short letter to Lord Ashburton, writ¬ 
ten a few weeks after his embarkation, may not be un¬ 
acceptable to the reader. 

Sir JVilliam Jones to Lord Ashburton. 

April 27, 1783. 

Your kind letter found me on board the Crocodile; 
I should have been very unhappy had it missed me, 
since I have long habituated myself to set the highest 
value on every word you speak, and every line you 
write. Of the two enclosed letters to our friends, Im- 
pey and Chambers, I will take the greatest care, and 
will punctually follow your directions as to the first of 
them. My departure was sudden indeed; but the ad¬ 
miralty were so anxious for the sailing of this frigate, 
and their orders were so peremptory, that it was impos¬ 
sible to wait for any thing but a breeze. Our voyage 
has hitherto been tolerably pleasant, and, since we left 
the channel, very quick. We begin to see albicores 
about the ship, and to perceive an agreeable change of 
climate. Our days, though short, give me ample time 
for study, recreation, and exercise; but my joy and de¬ 
light proceeds from the surprising health and spirits of 
Anna Maria, who joins me in affectionate remembrance 
to Lady Ashburton. As to you, my dear lord, we con¬ 
sider you as the spring and fountain of our happiness, 
as the author and parent (a Roman would have added, 

3. Britain Discovered, an Heroick Poem on the Constitution of 

England. Machinery. Hindu Gods. 

Model. ...Homer. 

4. Speeches, Political and Forensic. 

Model.... Demosthenes. 

5. Dialogues, Philosophical and Historical. 

Model..., Plato. 

6. Letters. Model ....Demosthenes and Plato. 

12th July, 1783. Crocodile Frigate. 


236 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

what the coldness of our northern language will hardly 
admit) the god of our fortunes. It is possible indeed, 
that by incessant labour and irksome attendance at the 
bar, I might in due time have attained all that my very 
limited ambition could aspire to, but in no other station 
than that which I owe to your friendship could I have 
gratified at once my boundless curiosity concerning the 
people of the East, continued the exercise of my profes¬ 
sion, in which I sincerely delight, and enjoyed at the 
same time the comforts of domestic life. The grand 
jury of Denbighshire, have found, I understand, the bill 
against the dean of St. Asaph, for publishing my dia¬ 
logue ; but as an indictment for a theoretical essay on 
government was I believe never before known, I have 
no apprehensions for the consequences. As to the doc¬ 
trines in the tract, though I shall certainly not preach 
them to the Indians, who must and will be governed by 
absolute power, yet I shall go through life with a per¬ 
suasion, that they are just and rational, that substantial 
freedom is both the daughter and parent of virtue, and 
that virtue is the only source of public and private feli¬ 
city. Farewel. 

****** 

In the course of the voyage he stopped at Madeira, 
and, in ten additional weeks of prosperous sailing, from 
the rugged islands of Cape Verd, arrived at Hinzuan or 
Joanna. Of this island, where he remained a few days 
only, he has published an interesting and amusing des¬ 
cription. He expatiates with rapture on his approach 
to it, delineates, with the skill of an artist, the beauties 
of the scenery, and sketches, wdth the discriminating 
pen of a philosopher, the characters and manners of the 
unpolished, but hospitable, natives. The novelty of 
the scene was attractive, and its impression upon his 


237 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

mind is strongly marked by the following just and ele¬ 
gant reflection) which in substance is more than once 
repeated in his writings....“ If life were not too short 
“ for the complete discharge of all our respective duties, 
“ public and private, and for the acquisition even of ne- 
“ cessary knowledge in any degree of perfection, with 
“ how much pleasure and improvement might a great 
“ part °f it be spent in admiring the beauties of this 
“ wonderful orb, and contemplating the nature of man 
“an all its varieties.”* 

But it would be injustice to his memory to pass over, 
without particular notice, the sensible and dignified re¬ 
buke with which he repelled the rude attack of Mus¬ 
sulman bigotry on the divinity of our Saviour. During 
a visit which he made to a native of the island, a Coran 
was produced for his inspection, and his attention was 
pointedly directed to a passage in a commentary, ac¬ 
cusing the Christians of blasphemy, in calling our 
Saviour the Son of God. “ The commentator (he 
“ replied) was much to blame for passing so indiscri- 
“ minate and hasty a censure. The title which gave 
“ y° ur legislator, and which gives you, such offence, 
“ was often applied in Judea by a bold figure, agreeably 
“ to the Hebrew idiom, though unusual in Arabic , to 
“ angels, to holy men, and even to all mankind, who are 
“ commanded to call God their father; and in this large 
“ sense the apostle to the Romans calls the elect the 
“ children of God, and the Messiah the firstborn amori* 
“ many brethren; but the words only begotten are applied 
“ transcendently and incomparably to him alone / and 
“ as for me, who believe the Scriptures which you also 
“ profess to believe, though you assert without proof 
“ that we have altered them, I cannot refuse him an 


* Sir William Jones’s Works, vol. iv. p. 488. 


238 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


44 appellation, though far surpassing our reason, by 
44 which he is distinguished in the gospel; and the 
44 believers in Mahommed, who expressly names him 
44 the Messiah, and pronounces him to have been bom 
44 of a virgin (which alone might fully justify the phrase 
44 condemned by this author) are themselves condemn- 
< 4 able for cavilling at words, when they cannot object 
44 to the substance of our faith, consistently with their 
44 own.”* 

This quotation affords a decisive proof of the belief 
of Sir William Jones in the sublime doctrines of the 
Christian religion. Had he been an infidel, he would 
have smiled at the scoffs of Mussulman bigotry; and 
had he been indifferent to his faith, he would have been 
silent on an occasion, where he could expect neither 
candour nor concessions from his antagonists. Indeed, 
he was well aware that a religious dispute with those 
zealots 'would have been fruitless and unseasonable, 
and might have been dangerous; but, as it was incon¬ 
sistent with his principles to disavow or conceal what 
he firmly believed and professed, he could not suffer 
the attack to pass without reprehension, and he grounded 
it on premises which his opponents could not dispute, 
nor did they venture to answer. 

From Hinzuan to the Ganges nothing material oc¬ 
curred, and he landed at Calcutta in September, 1783. 
His reputation had preceded his arrival, which was 
anxiously expected; and he had the happiness to find 
that his appointment had diffused a general satisfaction, 
which his presence now rendered complete. The stu¬ 
dents of the Oriental languages were eager to 'welcome 
a scholar, whose erudition in that branch of literature 
was unrivalled, and whose labours and genius had as- 


Sir William Jones’s Works* vol. i. p. 485. 


239 


SIR WILLIAM JONE-S. 

sisted their progress; while the public rejoiced in the 
possession of a magistrate, whose probity and indepen¬ 
dence were no less acknowledged than his abilities. 

With what rapture he himself contemplated his new 
situation, may be more easily conceived than described. 
As a magistrate of the supreme court of judicature, he 
had now that opportunity, which he ever ardently 
desired, of devoting his talents to the service of his 
native country, and of promoting the happiness of the 
community in which he resided; while the history, 
antiquities, natural productions, arts, sciences, and 
literature of Asia, opened an extensive and almost 
boundless held to his enquiries. He was now placed 
amidst a people, whose pretensions to antiquity had 
hitherto eluded research, and whose manners, religion, 
and customs, still retained the same characteristicai 
peculiarities, by which they were originally distin¬ 
guished. Time, who spreads the veil of oblivion over 
the opinions and works of mankind, who annihilates 
empires and the records of their existence, had spared 
the doctrines and language of the followers of Brama, 
and, amidst the ravages of conquest and the oppres¬ 
sions of tyranny, seemed to protect, with parental care, 
some of the earliest monuments of his reign. The 
Hindoos, in fact, presented to the observation of Sir 
William Jones a living picture of antiquity; and 
although the colouring might be somewhat faded and 
obscured, the lineaments of the original character were 
still discernible by the most superficial observer, whilst 
he remarked them with discrimination and rapture. 

In December, 1783, lie entered upon his judicial 
functions, and at the opening of the sessions delivered 
his first charge to the grand jury. The public had 
formed a high estimate of his oratorical powers, nor 
were they disappointed. His address was elegant, 


240 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

concise, and appropriate; the exposition of his senti¬ 
ments and principles was equally manly and concilia¬ 
tory, and calculated to inspire general satisfaction, as 
the known sincerity of his character was a test of his 
adherence to his professions. In glancing at dissen¬ 
sions which, at no remote period, had unfortunately 
prevailed between the supreme executive and judicial 
powers in Bengal, he shewed that they might and 
ought to be avoided, that the functions of both were 
distinct, and could be exercised without danger of 
collision; in promoting what should be the object of 
both_the public good. 

In the intervals of leisure from his professional 
duties he directed his attention to scientific objects ; he 
soon saw that the field of research, in India, was of an 
extent to baffle the industry of any individual, and that, 
whatever success might attend his own indefatigable 
labours, it could only be explored by the united efforts 
of many. With these ideas, he devised the institution 
, of a society in Calcutta, on the plan of those established 
in the principal cities of Europe, as best calculated to 
excite and facilitate the enquiries of the ingenious, as 
affording the means of preserving the numerous little 
tracts and essays which otherwise would be lost to the 
public, and of concentrating all the valuable knowledge 
which might be obtained in Asia. The suggestion 
was received with the greatest satisfaction by several 
gentlemen to whom he communicated it, and the mem¬ 
bers of the new association assembled, for the first time, 
in January, 1784. 

The repetition of a narrative, which has already ap¬ 
peared in several publications,* may be deemed super¬ 
fluous; but a detail of the circumstances attending the 

* Asiatic Researches, vol. i. Introduction. The account is omitted 
in the works of Sir William Jones. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 241 

formation of an institution, of which Sir William Jones 
v^s not only the founder, but the brightest ornament, 
cannot with propriety be omitted in the memoirs of 
his life. 

It had been resolved to follow, as nearly as possible, 
the plan of the royal society in London, of which the 
king is the patron; and, at the first meeting, it was, 
therefore, agreed to address the governor-general and 
-council of Bengal, explaining the objects of the society, 
and soliciting the honour of their patronage; which was 
granted in the most flattering terms of approbation. 
The members next proceeded to the nomination of a 
president; and as Warren Hastings, esquire, then 
governor-general of India, had distinguished himself as 
the first liberal promoter of useful knowledge in Bengal, 
and especially as the great encourager of Persian and 
Sanscrit literature, they deemed him entitled to every 
mark of distinction which it was in their power to 
offer; and although they were aware that the numerous 
and important duties of his public station might prove 
an insurmountable objection to his acquiescence, they, 
nevertheless, determined to solicit his acceptance of the 
honorary title of president of the society, as a just 
tribute of respect, which the occasion seemed to de¬ 
mand, and which could not have been omitted, without 
an appearance of inattention to his distinguished merit. 

The application was received with the acknowledg¬ 
ment due to the motives which dictated it; but Mr. 
Hastings, for the reasons w hich had been anticipated, 
declined his acceptance of the proffered title, and 
“ begged leave to resign his pretensions to the gentle- 
“ man whose genius had planned the institution, and 
“ w r as most capable of conducting it, to the attainment 
“ of the great and splendid purposes of its formation, 5 ’ 

Kk 


242 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Sir William Jones, upon the receipt of this answer, w as 
immediately and unanimously requested to accept the 
presidency of the society. On this occasion, he ad¬ 
dressed the following letter to Mr. Hastings: 

MY DEAR SIR, 

Independently of my general presumption, that 
whatever you determine is right, I cannot but admit the 
solidity of the reasons, which induce you to decline that 
precedence, to which, if our society were in its full 
vigour instead of being in its cradle, you would have a 
title paramount to all, who have been, are, or will be, in 
this country. Every part of your letter (except that 
which your kind indulgence makes so honourable to me) 
carries with it the clearest conviction. Your first rea¬ 
son (namely, an unwillingness to accept an honorary 
trust, and want of leisure for one, that may require, an 
active part) must appear satisfactory to all. I trust, you 
will consider our act as proceeding solely from our anx¬ 
iety to give you that distinction, which justice obliged 
us to give. As to myself, I could never have been sa¬ 
tisfied, if in traversing the sea of knowledge, 1 had fallen 
in with a ship of your rate and station, without striking 
my flag. One thing more, my dear sir, I must assure 
you of, that in whatever manner your objections had 
been stated, I should have thought them just and wise, 
and if it were not for the pleasure, which your friendly 
communication of them has given me, I should repent 
of the trouble which our intended homage has occasioned. 

I return Mr. Turner’s letters with many thanks for 
the entertainment which Lady J. and myself have re¬ 
ceived from them. I promise myself much delight and 
instruction from his conversation, and hope that when 
he shall think proper to communicate a relation of hi& 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


243 


travels,*lie will prefer our society to that of London. 
I will pay my respects to you in the evening, and am 
concerned from a selfish motive, that the place where I 
now write, will so soon lose one of its greatest advan¬ 
tages. Believe me to be with unfeigned regard, 

Dear Sir, 

Your faithful and obedient servant, 

William Jones. 

A> \1/ V/ Vtl Al/ Ak. 

/fv Tjc Tfc Tfc 7N 7T9 

To this public and private record of the merit of Mr. 
Hastings, in promoting and encouraging the pursuits of 
literature in Asia, the addition of any further testimony 
must be superfluous; yet I cannot deny myself the sa¬ 
tisfaction of stating briefly the grounds of his claims to 
that distinction, which excited the acknowledgments, 
and prompted the solicitation, of the society. 

Mr. Hastings entered into the service of the East 
India company, with all the advantages of a regular clas¬ 
sical education, and with a mind strongly impressed with 
the pleasures of literature. The common dialects of 
Bengal, after his arrival in that country, soon became 
familiar to him; and, at a period when the use and im¬ 
portance of the Persian language were scarcely suspect- 
ed, and when the want of that grammatical and philo¬ 
logical assistance, which has facilitated the labours of 
succeeding students, rendered the attainment of it a task 
of peculiar difficulty, he acquired a proficiency in it. His 
success not only contributed to make known the advan¬ 
tages of the acquisition, but proved an inducement to 


* This relation was published in 18CG, under the title of u An Account 
a of an Embassy to the Court of Teshoo Lama in Tibet&c. by Cap¬ 
tain Samuel Turner. It is exceedingly curious and interesting. The 
author, whose amiable manners and good qualities had endeared him to 
his friends, was seized with an apoplexy, as he was walking the streets 
of London, and died within two days. 


244 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


others to follow his example; and the general know¬ 
ledge of the Persian language, 'which has been since at¬ 
tained by the servants of the East-India company, has 
conspired to produce political effects of the greatest na¬ 
tional importance, by promoting and accelerating the 
improvements which have taken place in the system of 
internal administration in Bengal. 

If Mr. Hastings cannot claim the merit of having ex¬ 
plored himself the mine of Sanscrit literature, he is 
eminently entitled-to the praise of having invited and 
liberally encouraged the researches of others. But he 
has a claim to commendations of a higher nature; for a 
conduct no less favourable to the cause of literature than 
to the advancement of the British influence in India, by 
removing that reserve and distrust in the professors of 
the.Braminical faith, .which had taught them to view 
with suspicion all attempts to investigate their code, and 
to apprehend the infringement of its ordinances in our 
political rule. The importance of his success will be 
readil^'teknowledged by those whose observation qua¬ 
lifies thfm to form a clue estimate of it; and, to those 
who have not had the advantages of local experience, 
the communication of my own may not be unsatisfac¬ 
tory. 

The spirit of the Mahommedan religion is adverse to 
every appearance of idolatry; and the conquest of Hin¬ 
dustan by the Mussulmans was prosecuted with the zeal 
of a religious crusade. The rage of proselytism was 
united with the ambition of dominion, and the subver¬ 
sion of the Hindu superstition was always considered a 
religious obligation, the discharge of which might, in¬ 
deed, be suspended by political considerations, but could 
never be renounced; and, notwithstanding occasional 
marks of toleration in some of the emperors of Hindus¬ 
tan, or their viceroys, their Hindu subjects were ever 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


245 


beheld by them in the contemptuous light of infidels 
and idolaters. They were of course naturally disposed 
to apprehend the effects of a similar bigotry and into¬ 
lerance in their European governors, so widely discri¬ 
minated from themselves in manners, language, and re¬ 
ligion. The Bramins too (who had the feelings com¬ 
mon to the bulk of the people) deemed themselves pre¬ 
cluded by laws, in their opinion of sacred and eternal 
obligation, from any development of their secret doc¬ 
trines to a race of people who could only be ranked in 
the lowest of the four classes of mankind, and to whom, 
with little exception, their secrecy and reserve had 
hitherto proved impenetrable. To surmount these ob¬ 
stacles, to subdue the jealousy and prejudices of the 
Bramins, and to diminish the apprehensions of the peo¬ 
ple at large, required a conduct regulated by the most 
liberal and equitable principles, and the influence of 
personal intercourse and conciliation. The compilation 
of a code of laws by Pundits, convened by the invitation 
of Mr. blastings, the Persian version of it, made under 
their immediate inspection, and the translation of the 
Bagvhat Geeta, a work containing all the grand myste¬ 
ries of the Braminical faith, are incontrovertible proofs 
of the success of his efforts, to inspire confidence in 
minds where distrust was habitual, while a variety of 
useful publications, undertaken at his suggestion, de¬ 
monstrate the beneficial effects of his patronage and en¬ 
couragement of Oriental literature. 

Amongst the original members of the society, who 
subscribed the address to the governor-general and 
council, proposing the institution, will be found the 
names of several who have distinguished themselves by 
their proficiency in Oriental learning: of Mr. William 
Chambers, whose knowledge of the dialects on the coast 
of Coromandel, as well as of Persian and Arabic litera- 


246 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


ture, was critical and extensive, and his least praise; 
of Mr. Francis Gladwyn, the author of many works cal¬ 
culated to assist the students of the Persian language, 
the translator of many Oriental manuscripts, and par¬ 
ticularly of the Institutes of Akbar, the wisest, greatest, 
and most tolerant monarch that ever swayed the sceptre 
of India;-* of captain Charles Hamilton, who published 
a translation of the Hedaiya, a code of Mahommedan 
laws, which has been found of great use in the admi¬ 
nistration of justice in Bengal; and of Charles Wilkins, 
esquire, the first Englishman who acquired a critical 
knowledge of the language of the Bramins, and who, 

* The toleration of Akbar, and his curiosity to investigate the reli¬ 
gious tenets of other nations, have exposed him to the charge of heresy 
amongst the Mahomedans in general. In a collection of his letters, 
published by his learned minister Ab-ul-fuzl, there is one addressed to 
the king of Portugal, in which he censures, in the strongest terms, the 
slavish propensity of mankind, to adopt the religious principles of their 
fathers and those amongst whom they have been brought up, without 
evidence or investigation ; he avows his own pleasure and profit, in 
conversing with the learned professors of different professions, and 
desires that some person of that character, conversant in the Oriental 
and European languages, may be sent to him. He also requests trans¬ 
lations of the heavenly books , the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospels, 
or any others of general utility. 

In a code of instructions, specifically addressed to the officers of his 
empire, I find the two following passages: 

“ Do not molest mankind, on account of their religious principles. 
“ If, in the affairs of this world, which are transitory and perishable 
“ a prudent man is guided by a regard to his interest; still less, in spi- 
« ritual concerns, which are eternal, whilst he retains his senses, will 
« he adopt what is pernicious. If truth be on his side, do not oppose it, 
“ and inolest him; but if it be with you, andhe from want of understanding 
« should have imbibed erroneous notions, ignorance is his malady, and 
“ he is to be considered as an object of your compassion and assistance, 
“ not of molestation and vanity. Keep on good terms with the upright 
“ and virtuous of all persuasions. 

« The best adoration which man in this world can pay to his Maker, 
“ is duiv to administer the affairs of his creatures, discarding passion 
« and affection, and without distinction of friend or foe, relation or 
M stranger;” 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


24r 

by the application of rare talents and industry, by his 
own personal exertions, invented and cast types of the 
Debnagree, Persic, and Bengalese characters, in such 
perfection, that no succeeding attempts have exhibited 
any improvement upon his labours. Of these names, 
two only survive. 

The loss of Mr. Chambers must be particularly la¬ 
mented, by all who feel an interest in communicating 
a knowledge of the doctrines of salvation to the natives 
of India. In an early period of life he saw and felt the 
truth and importance of the Christian religion; and, 
while his own conduct exhibited the strength of his 
conviction, he thought, it a duty to employ his talents 
and acquirements in disseminating amongst the un¬ 
taught natives a knowledge of that faith, which he 
regarded of supreme and universal importance. In this 
view, he determined to undertake a translation of the 
New Testament into Persian, and devoted all his leisure 
to the performance of this task, with the most zealous 
solicitude to make it accurate; but he had not completed 
half the gospel of St. Matthew, when it pleased Provi¬ 
dence to call him out of this life. 

Such, amongst others, were the original members of 
the society formed at Calcutta, for enquiring into the his¬ 
tory, antiquities, the natural productions, arts, sciences, 
and literature of Asia, under the patronage of Sir Wil¬ 
liam Jones, wdio, at the first meeting after the institution 
was completed, in his capacity of president, unfolded, 
in an elegant and appropriate address, the objects pro¬ 
posed for their researches, and concluded with a pro¬ 
mise, which he amply discharged, of communicating 
the result of his own studies and enquiries. 

That he might be qualified to perform this promise, 
in a manner worthy his high reputation, as well as from 
more commanding motives, he determined to com- 


248 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

mence, without loss of time, the study of the Sanscrit. 
His reflection had before suggested that a knowledge of 
this ancient tongue would be of the greatest utility, in 
enabling him to discharge, with confidence and satis¬ 
faction to himself, the duties of a judge; and he soon 
discovered, what subsequent experience fully confirmed, 
that no reliance could be placed on the opinions or in¬ 
terpretations of the professors of the Hindu law, unless 
he were qualified to examine their authorities and quo¬ 
tations, and detect their errors and misrepresentations. 
On the other hand, he knew that all attempts to explore 
the religion or literature of India, through any other 
medium than a knowledge of the Sanscrit, must be im¬ 
perfect and unsatisfactory. It was evident that the most 
erroneous and discordant opinions on these subjects had 
been circulated by the ignorance of those who had collect¬ 
ed their information from oral communications only, and 
that the pictures exhibited in Europe, of the religion and 
literature of India, could only be compared to the maps 
constructed by the natives, in which every position is 
distorted, and all proportion violated. As a lawyer, he 
knew the value and importance of original documents 
and records, and, as a scholar and man of science, he 
disdained the idea of amusing the learned world with 
secondary information on subjects which had greatly 
interested their curiosity, when he had the means of 
access to the original sources. He was also aware that 
much was expected by the literati in Europe, from his 
superior abilities and learning; and he felt the strongest 
inclination to gratify their expectations in the fullest 
possible extent. 

Of his time he had early learned to be a rigid econo¬ 
mist,* and he frequently regretted the sacrifices of it, 

* As a proof of the strict regularity of Sir William Jones in the ap¬ 
plication of his time, the reader is presented with a transcript of a card 


249 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

which custom or ceremony extorted. An adherence 
to this principle, while it restrained in some degree his 
habits of social intercourse, necessarily limited his cor¬ 
respondence with his friends. From the few letters 
which he wrote, I shall now select such as describe his 
feelings, thoughts, and occupations, a few months only 
after his arrival in Bengal. 

Sir William Jones to Mr . Justice Hyde . 

Friday Evening , at the Chambers , Jan . 1/84. 

dear sir, 

Ramlochind has raised my curiosity by telling me, 
that when you had occasion to receive the evidence of 
some Mugs , they produced a book in strange square 
characters, which they called Zuboor. Now Zuboor is 
the name by which the Psalms of David are known in 
Asia. May not this book be the Psalms in Old Hebrew* 
or Samaritan, and the people a sect of Jews? Can you 
give me any information on this head? 

Sir William Jones to Mr . Justice Hyde . 

Garden , May 14, 1784. 

Many thanks, my dear Sir, for your kind concern 
and attention. I w 7 as on the bridge by Col. Tolly’s 

in his own writing. It contains, indeed, the occupations which he had 
prescribed to himself in a period of the following year; but may serve 
as a sample of the manner in which he devoted his leisure hours at all 
times. 



Daily Studies 
for the 

Long Vacation of 1785: 

Morning .,. 

...One letter. 

Ten chapters of the Bible; 
Sanscrit Grammar. 

Hindu Law, &c. 

Afternoon.,, 

...Indian Geography. 

Evening .... 

...Roman History. 

Chess. Ariosto. 

L 1 





250 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


house in the midst of the storm, my horses mad 
with the fear of the lightning, and my carriage every 
moment in danger of being overset by the wind; I was 
wet to the skin, and saved from worse inconvenience by 
the diligence of my servants, who took off the horses 
and drew the carriage to a place of safety. I am never¬ 
theless in good health; but lady Jones is not quite re¬ 
covered from a severe cold and rheumatism, attended 
with a fever. 

Remember that I am 'always ready to relieve you at 
the chambers in the Loll Bazarp* and will cheerfully 
take the labouring oar next month if you please; espe¬ 
cially, as I propose to spend the long vacation in a 
floating house, and to leave Calcutta as soon as the 
session is over; but I shall return dead or alive before 
the 22d of October. I am inexpressibly amused by a 
Persian translation of an old Sanscrit book, called Siry 
Bha’gwat, which comprises almost the whole of the 
Hindu religion, and contains the life and achievements 
of Crishen; it is by far the most entertaining book, on 
account of its novelty and wildness, that I ever read. 

Farewell, and believe me, dear Sir, 

Ever affectionately yours, 

William Jones. 

Sir William Jones to Dr, Patrick Russel, 

Calcutta , March 10, 1784. 

You would readily excuse my delay in answering 
your obliging letter, if you could form an idea of the 
incessant hurry and confusion, in which I have been 
Jeept ever since my arrival in Bengal, by necessary 
business, or necessary formalities, and by the difficulty 

* A house in Calcutta, where the puisn£ judges of the supreme court 
of judicature attended by rotation in the evening, as justices of the 
peace. 


251 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

of settling myself to my mind, in a country so different 
from that which I have left. I am indeed, at best, but 
a bad correspondent; for I never write by candle-light, 
and I find so much Arabic or Persian to read, that all 
my leisure, in a morning, is hardly sufficient for a 
thousandth part of the reading that would be highly 
agreeable and useful to me, and as I purpose to spend 
the long vacation up the country, I wish to be a match 
in conversation with the learned natives, whom I may 
happen to meet. 

I rejoice that you are so near, but lament that you 
are not nearer, and am not without hope, that you may 
one day be tempted to visit Bengal, where I flatter 
myself you will give me as much of your company as 
possible. 

Many thanks for your kind hints in regard to my 
health. As to me, I do not expect, as long as I stay 
in India, to be free from a bad digestion, the morbus 
literatorum, for which there is hardly any remedy, but 
abstinence from too much food, literary and culinary. 
I rise before the sun, and bathe after a gentle ride; my 
diet is light and sparing, and I go early to rest; yet the 
activity of ttiy mind is too strong for my constitution, 
though naturally not infirm, and I must be satisfied 
with a valetudinarian state of health. If you should 
meet with any curiosities on the coast, either in your 
botanical rambles or in reading, and will communicate 
them to our society, lately instituted for enquiring into 
the history, civil and natural, the antiquities, arts, 
sciences, and literature of Asia, we shall give you our 
hearty thanks. There is an Abyssinian here, who knew 
Mr. Bruce at Gwender. I have examined him, and he 
confirms Bruce’s account. Every day supplies me 
with something new in Oriental learning, and if I were 
to stay here half a century, I should be continually 
amused. 


25 2 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Sir William Jones to . 

April 13, 1784. 

* * * * * 

I am discouraged from writing to you as copiously 
as I wish, by the fear that my letter may never reach 
you. I enclose however a hymn to the Indian cupid, 
which is here said to be the only correct specimen of 
Hindu mythology that has appeared; it is certainly new 
and quite original, except the form of the stanza, which 
is Milton’s. I add the character of Lord Ashburton, 
which my zeal for his fame^prompted me to publish.* 

* * * * * Had I dreamt that 

the dialogue would have made such a stir, I should cer¬ 
tainly have taken more pains with it. I will never cease 
to avow and justify the doctrine comprised in it. I 
meant it merely as an imitation of one of Plato’s, where 
a boy, wholly ignorant of geometry, is made by a few 
simple questions to demonstrate a proposition, and I 
intended to inculcate, that the principles of government 

* Lord Ashburton died on the 18th of August, 1783. His character, 
written by Sir William Jones, is published in vol.iv. of his Works, p. 577 . 
I transcribe from it the last paragraph, as a proof of the gratitude and 
sensibility of the writer. 

“ For some months before his death, the nursery had been his chief 
delight, and gave him more pleasure than the cabinet could have af- 
4t forded; but this parental affection, which had been a source of so 
“ much felicity, was probably a cause of his fatal illness. Fie had lost 
“ one son, and expected to lose another, when the author of this painful 
tribute to his memory parted from him, with tears in his eyes, little 
u hoping to see him again in a perishable state. As he perceives, with- 
out affectation, that his tears now steal from him, and begin to moisten 
“ the paper on which he writes, he reluctantly leaves a subject, which 
“ he could not soon have exhausted; and when he also shall resign his 
life to the great Giver of it, he desires no other decoration of his humble 
* grave-stone, than this honourable truth: 

“ With none to flatter, none to recommend, 

« Dunning approv’d, and mark’d him as a friend.’* 



253 


SIR WILLIAM JONES'. 

were so obvious and intelligible, that a clown might be 
brought to understand them. As to raising sedition, I 
as much thought of raising a church. 

My dialogue contains my system, which I have ever 
avowed, and ever will avow; but I perfectly agree (and 
no man of sound intellect can disagree) that such a 
system is wholly inapplicable to this country, where 
millions of men are so wedded to inveterate prejudices 
and habits, that, if liberty could be forced upon them by 
Britain, it would make them as miserable as the crudest 
despotism. 

Pray remember me affectionately to all my friends at 
the bar, whom I have not time to enumerate, and as¬ 
sure my academical and professional friends that I will 
write to them all when I have leisure. 

Farewell, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Charles Chapman , Esq. 

Gardens , ticar Allipore , April 26, 1784. 

Allow me, dear Sir, to give you the warmest thanks 
in my own name, and in that of our infant society, for 
the pleasure which we have received from your interest¬ 
ing account of Cochinchina, with considerable extracts 
from which we have been favoured by our patrons. Our 
meetings are well attended, and the society may really 
be said, considering the recent time of its establishment, 
to flourish. 

We have been rather indisposed, the weather being 
such as we had no idea of in England, excessive heat at 
noon, and an incessant high wind from morning till night; 
at this moment it blows a hurricane, and my study re¬ 
minds me of my cabin at sea. Our way of life, however, is 
quite pastoral in this retired spot; as my prime favourites, 
among all our pets, are two large English sheep, which 
came with us from Spithead, and having narrowly es- 


254 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


caped the knife, are to live as long and as happily with 
us as they can; they follow us for bread, and are per¬ 
fectly domestic. We are literally lulled to sleep by 
Persian nightingales, and cease to wonder that the Bul¬ 
bul, with a thousand tales , makes such a figure in Ori¬ 
ental poetry. Since I am resolved to sit regularly in 
court as long as I am well, not knowing how soon I may 
be forced to remit my attention to business, I shall not 
be at liberty to enter my budgerow till near the end of 
July, and must be again in Calcutta on the 22d of Oc¬ 
tober, so that my time will be very limited; and I 
shall wish if possible to see Benares. 

% * * % * 

The principal object of his meditated excursion was to 
open sources of information on topics entirely new in the 
republic of letters. The indisposition which he mentions, 
not without apprehensions of its continuance, had not al¬ 
together left him when he commenced his journey, and 
during the progress of it returned with a severity which 
long held the public in anxious suspense, before any 
hopes could be entertained of its favourable termination. 

The author of these memoirs saw him in August, 
1784, at the house of a friend in the vicinity of Moors- 
hedabad, languid, exhausted, and emaciated, in a state 
of very doubtful convalescence; but his mind had suf¬ 
fered no depression, and exhibited all its habitual fer¬ 
vour. In his conversation he spoke with rapture of the 
country , of the novel and interesting sources opened to 
his researches, and seemed to lament his sufferings, only 
as impediments to the prosecution of them. From 
Moorshedabad he proceeded to Jungipore, at the dis¬ 
tance of a day’s journey only, and from this place con¬ 
tinued his correspondence, which describes his condi¬ 
tion. 


2 55 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Sir JViUiam Jones to Charles Chapman , Esq . 

iAug, SO, 1784. 

Nothing but a series of severe attacks of illness 
could have prevented my replying long ago to your 
friendly letter. After resisting them by temperance and 
exercise for some time, I was quite overpowered by a 
fever, which has confined me ten weeks to my couch, 
but is now almost entirely abated, though it has left me 
in a state of extreme weakness. I had a relapse at Rau- 
gamutty, which obliged me to stay three weeks at Af- 
zalbang, where the judgment and attention of Dr. Glas 
prevented, perhaps, serious consequences. I have spent 
two days at this place, and I find myself so much bet¬ 
ter, that I propose to continue my voyage this evening: 
whether I shall be able to go farther than Patna (I long 
to see Benares) is very uncertain. This is only the se¬ 
cond attempt I have made to write since my illness, and 
as I hold my pen with some difficulty, I will say no 
more than that I am, with great esteem, <kc. 

P. S. I cannot help adding, that your proposal of ex¬ 
tracting such parts of your very interesting narrative 
concerning 'Cochinchina, as you may think proper to 
deposit among the archives of our society, is the very 
thing I wished, and I really think it will be one of our 
most valuable tracts.* * * * * 

* The extracts alluded to have not yet appeared in the Asiatic Re¬ 
searches. The voyage, which led to that narrative, was undertaken on 
the following occasion : Two mandarins of Cochinchina had been acci¬ 
dentally brought to Calcutta, in 1778 ; the governor-general of India, W. 
Hastings, Esq. from motives of humanity and policy, furnished the means 
of their return to their native country, and Charles Chapman, Esq. 
at his own request, was appointed to accompany them with a public 
commission, with instructions to establish, if practical, a commercial 
intercourse between the Company’s settlements in India and Cochin- 
china, and to procure such privileges and advantages for English vessels, 
resorting thither, as th government of that country might be dispose^, 
to gra^t. 


256 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


But his thoughts and attention were not confined to 
the perishable concerns of this world only: and what 
was the subject of his meditations in health was more 
forcibly impressed upon his mind during illness. He 
knew the duty of resignation to the will of his Maker, 
and of dependence on the merits of a Redeemer; and I 
find these sentiments expressed in a short prayer, which 
he composed during his indisposition in September, 
1784, and which I here insert: 

“ O thou Bestower of all Good! if it please thee to 
44 continue my easy tasks in this life, grant me strength 
44 to perform them as a faithful servant; but if thy wis- 
44 dom hath willed to end them by this thy visitation, 
44 admit me, not weighing my unworthiness, but through 
tc thy mercy declared in Christ, into thy heavenly man- 
44 sions, that I may continually advance in happiness, by 
44 advancing in true knowledge and awful love of thee. 
“ Thy will be done!” 

I quote, with particular satisfaction, this short, but 
decisive, testimony of the religious principles of Sir 
William Jones; among many additional proofs, which 
might be given of them, is the following short prayer, 
composed on waking, July 27, 1783, at sea, also copied 
from his own writing. 

44 Graciously accept our thanks, thou Giver of all 
44 Good, for having preserved us another night, and be- 
44 stowed on us another day. O grant that, on this day, 
44 we may meditate on thy law with joyful veneration, 
44 and keep it in all our actions, with firm obedience!” 

Minute circumstances frequently tend to mark and 
develop character. As a further instance of this ob¬ 
servation, however trifling it may appear, the application 
by Sir William Jones to himself, of two lines of Milton, 
in his own writing, under a card with his printed name, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 257 

in addition to more substantial proofs, may be quoted 
in evidence of his habitual frame of mind : 

Not wand’ring poor, but trusting all his wealth 
With God, who called him to a land unknown. 

On another scrap of paper, the following lines appear: 
they were written by him in India; but at what period 
is not known, nor, indeed, of any consequence: 

Sir Edward Coke, 

Six hours in sleep, in laws’ grave study six, 

Four spend in prayer....the rest on nature fix : 

Rather. 

Six hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, 

Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven. 

If we sometimes suffer the humiliation of seeing 
great talents and extensive erudition prostituted to infi¬ 
delity, and employed in propagating misery, by endea¬ 
vouring to subvert the basis of our temporal and 
eternal welfare, we cannot but feel a more than com¬ 
mon gratification at the salutary union of true genius 
and piety. Learning, that wantons in irreligion, may, 
like the Sirius of Homer, flash its strong light upon us ; 
but, though brilliant, it is baneful; and, while it 
dazzles, makes us tremble for our safety. Science, 
therefore, without piety, whatever admiration it may 
excite, will never be entitled to an equal degree of 
respect and esteem, with the humble knowledge which 
makes us wise unto salvation. The belief of Sir William* 
Jones in revelation is openly and distinctly declared in 
his works; but the unostentatious effusions of seques¬ 
tered adoration, whilst they prove the sincerity of his, 
conviction, give an additional weight to his avowed 
opinions. More might be added on this subject; but 
it will be communicated in another place. 

His next stage was Bhagilpoor, the residence of the 
friend to whom the preceding letters were addressed,; 
m m 


258 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

and hei*e he was long detained by illness and debility. 
The vigour of his mind, however, still continued un¬ 
impaired, and, except during the severe paroxysms of 
disorder, his researches for imformation were never 
suspended, nor would he suffer himself to be debarred 
from any intercourse by which they could be promoted. 
It was at this place, during the hours of convalescence, 
when he was confined to his couch, that he applied 
himself to the study of botany ; a science for which he 
had early entertained a great partiality, and which he 
pronounces the most lovely and fascinating branch of 
natural knowledge. With the works of Linnaeus 
before him, he procured the plants of the country to be 
brought to him; and, comparing the productions of 
nature with the descriptions and arrangements of the 
Swedish philosopher, lie beguiled the hours of langour 
and disease, and laid the solid foundation of that bota¬ 
nical knowledge which he ever afterwards cultivated 
with increasing ardour and delight. 

From Bhagilpoor he pursued his journey to Patna, 
where he w r as again attacked with a severe indisposition. 
It did not, however, prevent him from proceeding by 
land to Guyah, famous as the birth-place of Boudh, the 
author of a system of philosophy which labours under 
the imputation of atheism; but more famous for the 
annual resort of Hindu pilgrims from all parts of India, 
w T ho repair to the holy city, for the purpose of making 
prescribed oblations to their deceased ancestors, and of 
obtaining absolution from all their sins. 

The city of Benares was his next stage, and the 
limits of his excursion. He had here an opportunity 
of seeing the professors of the Hindu religion, at the 
most celebrated and ancient university of India, and 
had only to regret that his knowledge of their language 
was insufficient to enable him to converse with them 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


259 


without the assistance of an interpreter. After a short 
residence, which his sense of duty would not allow him 
to protract unnecessarily, he returned by the Ganges 
to Bhagilpoor,* where, as he observes, he had already 


* From a note written by Sir William Jones, on Major Rennel’s 
account of Butan and^ Tibet, I extract the following passage. It is en¬ 
dorsed, as having been intended for the Researches of the Asiatic 
Society, but is not published in them. 

« j us t after sun-set, on the 5th of October, 1784, 1 had a distinct view 
« from Bhagilpoor of Chumalury peak, and the adjoining mountains of 
« Tibet, which are very clearly seen from Perneea , and were per- 
<4 fectlv recollected by a learned member of our society, one of the 
“ latest travellers to that interesting country, who had obligingly 
a communicated to me a correct note of the bearings and courses 
u observed in his journey from Rengpur to Tassisudden , and thence 
u through Paradgong to Chumalury . The peak bore very nearly due 
<4 north to the room, from which it was seen, in the house of Mr. Chap- 
44 man ; and from the most accurate calculations that I should make, 
“ the horizontal distance, at which it was distinctly visible, must be at 
least 244 British miles ; there wa| a strong glare from the setting 
<4 ^ on the snows of its more western side, and it might assuredly 
u have been discerned at a much greater distance. By an observation 
“ of Mr. Davis, at Rengpur,and another at Tassisudden, the difference 
“ of latitude between the place last mentioned and Bhagilpoor, is 163 
« geographical , or 188 and a fraction, British miles: now, although the 
a roa d from Buxadewar in Butan, the latitude of which was found to 
“ be 26° 53 ’, consisted of rough mountains and deep valleys, yet the 
« wav between Paradgong and Chumalury, especially from Chesa- 
“ camba, the frontier of Tibet, was very level; and the accuracy of our 
“ travellers gives us reason to believe, that their computed miles from 
“ Tassisudden were but little above the standard ; so that having* mea- 
u sur ed the northern sides of the two triangles, formed by their courses 
u WNW. and NNW. we could not be far from the truth.” 

* 

* * * * * 

t< The mountains of Chumalury are the second or third ridge des- 
cribedin the Memoir. The major justly considers the mountains of He- 
4 * mola, for so they are named by the natives, from aword signifying snow, 
u as equal in elevation to any in the old hemisphere; and an observation 
“ of Mr. Saunders at Perneia , added to a remark of Mr. Smith on 
« the appearance of Chumalury from Moreng, gives abundant reason 
4 < t0 think that we saw, from Bhagilpoor , the highest mountains in the 
“ world, without excepting the Andes. ,> 


260 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


found so much health, pleasure, and instruction, for 
two months. 

In his journey from this place to Calcutta, he visited 
Gour, once the residence of the sovereigns of Bengal. 
This place still exhibits architectural remains of royal 
magnificence, which the traveller is obliged to explore 
at some personal risk amidst forests, the exclusive 
haunts of wild beasts; for nature has here resumed her 
dominion, and triumphs over the short-lived pride of 
man. In a letter to a friend,* written after his arrival 
at Calcutta, he has briefly described some parts of his 
journey. 44 The Mahanada was beautiful, and the 
44 banks of some rivers in the Sunderbunds were mag- 
44 nificent: we passed within two yards of a fine tyger, 
44 who gazed on us with indifference; but we took care 
44 for several reasons to avoid the narrow passes at 
44 night. As we approached Calcutta, we perceived the 
44 difference of the climate, and thought of Bhagilpoor 
44 with pleasure and regret. 

44 I find Calcutta greatly changed; the loss of Mr. 
44 Hastings and Shore I feel very sensibly, and cannot 
44 but fear that the pleasure which I derive from other 
44 friendships formed in India will be followed by the 
44 pain of losing my friends next season. This was a 
44 great evil at the university, and abates not a little 
44 the happiness I expected in this country. 

44 Will you have the goodness to ask Mahesa pundit, 
44 whether the university at Tyrhoot is still supported, 
44 and confers degrees in Hindu law; one of our 
44 pundits is dead, and we have thoughts of requesting 
44 recommendations from the universities of Hindustan, 
44 particularly from Benares, and Tyrhoot, if it exists; 
44 so that the new pundit may be universally approved, 


* Charles Chapman, Esq. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


261 


“ and the Hindus may be convinced, that we decide 
“ on their law from the best information we can 
44 procure.” 

“ I am just returned,” (thus he writes to another 
correspondent Dr. P. Russel, March 2, 1785) “ as it 
44 were from the brink of another world, having been 
44 absent near seven months, and reduced to a skeleton 
44 by fevers of every denomination, with an obstinate 
44 bilious flux at their heels. My health is tolerably 
44 restored by a long ramble through south Behar, and 
44 the district of Benares, of which, if I were to write 
44 an account, I must fill a volume.” 

They who have perused the description of Joanna, 
by Sir William Jones, will regret that this volume was 
never written. The objects presented to his inspection, 
during his journey, afforded ample scope for his obser¬ 
vation, which was equally qualified to explore the 
beauties of nature, the works of art, the discriminations 
of character, and the productions of learning and 
science. Many of the remarks and reflections which 
he made in this tour, are transfused through his various 
compositions, two of which were actually written, 
during the course of his journey. 

The elegant little tale in verse, under the title of 
The Enchanted Fruit , or Hindu JVife , was composed 
during his residence in Beyhar, and affords a proof of 
the success of his enquiries, as well as of his skill in 
the happy application of the intelligence obtained by 
them. 

The other production was a Treatise on the Gods of 
Greece, Italy, and India, which he afterwards revised, 
and presented to the society. The design of this 

* The pundits are the expounders of the Hindu law, in which 
capacity, two constantly attended the supreme court of judicature, at 
Fort William. 


262 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

essay was to point out a resemblance, too strong to 
have been accidental, between the popular worship of 
the old Greeks and Italians, and that of the Hindus, 
and between their strange religion and that of Egypt, 
China, Persia, Phrygia, Phoenicia, and Syria, and even 
remoter nations. The proof of such resemblance, if 
satisfactorily established, would, as he remarks, 
authorize an inference of a general union and affinity 
between the most distinguished inhabitants of the pri¬ 
mitive world, at the time when they deviated, as they 
did too early deviate, from the rational adoration of the 
only true God. 

To this journey, under Providence, he was in all 
probability indebted iofthe preservation of his life, 
which without it might have fallen a sacrifice to the 
accumulation of disease: after his arrival in Calcutta, 
his health was almost completely restored. 

He now resumed his functions in the supreme court 
of judicature, and renewed the meetings of the society, 
which had been interrupted by his absence. In his 
second anniversary discourse, which was delivered in 
February, 1785, he notices, with pleasure and surprise, 
the successful progress of the institution, and the 
variety of subjects which had been discussed by the 
members of it; and, as in his first address, he had con¬ 
fined himself to the exhibition of a distant prospect 
only of the vast career on which the society was enter¬ 
ing, in the second he delineates a slight but masterly 
sketch of the various discoveries in history, science, 
and art, which might justly be expected to result from 
its researches into the literature of Asia. He mentions 
his satisfaction at having had an opportunity of visiting 
two ancient seats of Hindu religion and literature, and 
notices the impediments opposed by illness to the pro¬ 
posed enquiries, and the necessity of leaving thern, as 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 263 

iEneas is feigned to have left the shades, when his 
guide made him recollect the swift fight of irrevocable 
time, with a curiosity raised to the height, and a regret 
not easy to be described 

I now return to the correspondence of Sir William 
Jones, which in this year consists of few letters, and 
those chiefly addressed to* John Macpherson, Esq. 
who, in February, 1785, succeeded to the station of 
governor-general of India, on the departure of Mr. 
Hastings. If, in these letters, Sir William adverts to 
topics not familiar to his readers, they are such as 
naturally arise out of his situation and connections. 
Removed at a distance of a quarter of the circumference 
of the globe from the scene of politics, in which he had 
taken a deep interest, his attention is transferred to 
new objects and new duties. The sentiments which 
flow from his pen, in the confidential intercourse of 
friendship, display his mind more clearly than any • 
narrative; and they are often such as could not be 
omitted without injury to his character. Some passages 
in the letters, which, as less generally interesting, 
could be suppressed without this effect, have not been 
transcribed. 

Sir William Jones to J. Macpherson , Esq. 

March 12, 1785. 

I always thought, before I left England, that a 
rega, d foi the public good required the most cordial 
union between the executive and judicial powers in 
this country; and I lamented the mischief occasioned 
by former divisions. Since I have no view of happi¬ 
ness on this side of the grave, but in a faithful discharge 

* The present Sir John Macpherson, Bart. 


264 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of my duty, I sha|l spare no pains to preserve that 
cordiality which subsists, I trust, and will subsist, 
between the government and the judges. 

Lord Bacon, if I remember right, advises every 
statesman to relieve his mind from the fatigues of busi¬ 
ness by a poem, or a prospect, or any thing that raises 
agreeable images; now, as your own gardens afford you 
the finest prospects, and I should only offer you a view of 
paddy fields,* I send you for your amusement, what 
has amused me in the composition, a poemf on the old 
philosophy and religion of this country, and you may 
depend on its orthodoxy. The time approaches when 
I must leave these recreations, and return to my desk 
in court, where, how r ever, a knowledge of the Hindu 
manners and prejudices may not be useless. 

Sir William Jones to J . Macpherson , Esq. 

May 17, 1785. 

I have so many things, my dear Sir, to thank you 
for, that I scarce know where to begin. To follow the 
order of time, I must in the first place give you my 
hearty thanks for your kind and pleasing letter of last 
week, which shews that your mind can grasp the wdioie 
field of literature and criticism, as well as that of poli¬ 
tics, and that in the manner of ancient rulers in Asia, 
particularly Cicero, the governor of Cilicia, you unite 
the character of the statesman and the scholar. Next 
for the news, which has on the wdioie given me pleasure, 
and in particular, what both pleases and surprises me, 
that lord Camden has accepted the post of president of 
the council. You know the opinion which I early 
formed of Pitt; and that opinion will be raised still 

* Rice fields. 

t The Enchanted Fruit; or, Hindu Wife. Works, vol. vi. page 177. 


265 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

higher, if he has shewn himself (not merely indifferent, 
but) anxious that the reins of this government may long 
Continue in the hands which now hold them, and 
which, though mortals, as Addison says, cannot com¬ 
mand success, will certainly deserve it. I anxiously 
wish for the sake of the public, that not only the opera¬ 
tions of the law, but the cordial assent of those on 
whom it depends, has already secured your seat, as long 
as it may be consistent with your happiness to fill it. 

* * * * 

I will not fail to talk to Mr. Chambers on the college, 
and beg you to assure yourself, that I shall ever be 
happy in my sphere to give my humble assistance 
whenever you may require it. 

Sir William Jones to J. Macpherson , Esq. 

May 22, 1785. 

It was my intention to present to you in the 
author’s name, the books which I now send. The 
poet Zainudeen was recommended to me soon after I 
came to India, as a worthy ingenious old man. I 
enclose his verses to you, with a hasty translation* 

* This translatioc, as a specimen of the taste and adulatory style 
of modern Persian poets, is inserted for the reader’s entertainment. 

Macpherson exalted as the sky, prosperous in thy undertakings, who 
like the sun receivest even atoms in thy beams ! Thou art the just one 
of this age ; and in thy name, that of Nushirovan revives. With the 
aid of Jesus (blessed be his name) the government acquires its stability 
from thy mind. I have composed a poem in words of truth, beginning 
with a panegyric on the company. It contains a recital of the wars of 
the English , described with an animated pen. By the command of 
Hastings , entitled to reverence, I began a book on the victory of 
Benares; but before the completion of my task, that honourable 
man returned to his country. In thy government has my work 
been completed, and with thy name have I adorned its opening, in 
hope, that thou wilt send me fresh materials, to decorate with golden 

n n 


266 


MEMOIRS OF TPIE LIFE OF 

on the back of the paper, of the best couplets. The 
smaller volume contains part of the epic poem, which 
is written with enthusiasm; and the other volume is 
filled with odes and elegies, all in the old man’s 
writing. He is married to immortal verse, and his 
highest ambition is to be an atom in one of your sun¬ 
beams\ 

Sir William Jones to J. Macpherson Esq. 

May, 1785. 

The ornament of the faith, (for that is the bard’s 
name) Zainudeen, will wait upon you on Wednesday; 
his style of compliments is moderate in comparison of 
most Oriental compositions; other poets of this 
country would have entreated you not to ride on horse¬ 
back, lest you should cause an earthquake in India 
when you mounted. This was actually said to a prince 

verses the cheeks of my book. If I compose a Shahnameh, on the 
glorious name of the king of England, the book will fly over Iran and 
Turan, and the deeds of thy nation will blaze like the sun ; if I sing the 
achievements of the English, the name of Parveiz will be no more 
mentioned. If I open a chapter of their conquests, Afrasiab will trem¬ 
ble under the earth; the rapid motion of my dark reed will make 
Rustein "halt and droop. Hear my strains with discernment, and my 
pen shall soar with the wings of a falcon! Favour me, as Sultan Mah¬ 
moud shewed kindness to Ferdosi, that we may be a pair of tuneful 
nightingales. 

The actions of all nations are commemorated; let those of the English 
be celebrated under thy auspices. May thy orders be resistless as the 
s ea; the head of the contumacious be in thy power, and the seal of 
government bear thy name. 


On the names mentioned in this translation, it may be sufficient to 
observe that Ferdosi is the Homer of Persia, who composed an heroic 
poem under the title of Shahnameh ; that the name of Nushirovan is 
proverbial for justice; that Iran and Turan are Persia and Tartary ; 
and that the other persons introduced were kings or heroes of those 
Countries. 



267 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

at Delhi, who pleasantly bade the poet comfort himself, 
and assured him, that he would ever after go in a palan¬ 
quin. 

Sir William Jones to J. Macpherson , Esq. 

May 26, 1785. 

The regulation which you made concerning the 
Madrissa* is so salutary, that few things would grieve 
me more than to see it frustrated. Your predecessor 
has often mentioned to me, the high opinion which he 
had formed of the rector, but (I know not for what 
reason) he is very unpopular. Perhaps it is only 
faction, too common in most colleges at our univer¬ 
sities, of the student against the head. 

It is a remark of Johnson’s,! that as spiders would 
make silk, if they could agree together, so men of let¬ 
ters would be useful to the public, if they were not 
perpetually at variance. Besides my approbation as 
a good citizen of your regulations, I have a particular 
interest in the conduct of Mujduddeen, who is maulary{ 

* The passages in these letters relating to the Madrissa or 
college, as an establishment of national importance, merit! a more 
particular explanation. Mr. Hastings, whilst he held the office of 
governor - general, with a view to promote the knowledge of Ma- 
hommedan law, as essential to the due administration of justice to the 
natives of India, had established a college at Calcutta, in which native 
students were admitted and taught at the public expense. This in¬ 
stitution was dictated by a wise policy; it was calculated to conciliate 
the affections of the Mussulmans, and to ensure a succession of men 
properly qualified by education to expound the law of the kcran, 
and to fill the important offices of magistrates in the courts of justice. 
The president of this college had been selected with every attention to 
his character and ability ; but some representations having been made 
to his disadvantage, the succeeding governor-general, J. Macpherson, 
Esq. consulted Sir William Jones, on the regulations proper to be es¬ 
tablished for promoting the laudable objects of the institution, and con- 
troling its conduct. 

t Originally Reaumur’s. 

I Expounder of the Mahommedan law. 


268 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of the court, and as such ought to be omni exceptione 
major. I believe from my conversation with him, that 
he is not a man of deep learning; but his manners are 
not unpleasing. The proposal which you make, can¬ 
not but produce good effects; but I hardly know any 
member of our society, who answers your description 
for a visitor under your directions , except Mr. Chambers, 
and his report might be depended on. I will, if yon 
please, propose it on Thursday. The students brought 
a complaint before me last term, which I dismissed as 
not being within my cognizance, that their allowances 
were taken by the head, who left them without sub¬ 
sistence; but whether this be true or false, it will not 
be amiss for the maulary to know, that he is subject to 
visitation from time to time. 

If the best intentions can ensure safety, you have 
nothing to apprehend; but, alas, my friend, if you can 
be safe only in fixed unanimous opinions of statute law, 
you can seldom,' I fear, act with perfect confidence. 
Such is the imperfection of human language, that few 
written laws are free from ambiguity; and it rarely hap¬ 
pens that many minds are united in the same interpre¬ 
tation of them. 

A statesman told lord Coke, that he meant to consult 
him on a point of law. 4 4 If it be common law, said 
44 Coke, I should be ashamed if I could not give you a 
44 ready answer; but if it be statute law, I should be 
44 equally ashamed if I answered you immediately 

I will here only set down a few rules of interpretation 
which the wisdom of ages has established, where the 
sense of the words is at all ambiguous. 

1. The intention of the writer must be sought, and 
prevail over the literal sense of terms; but penal Laws 
must be strictly expounded against offenders, and libe¬ 
rally against the offence. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 569 

2. All clauses, preceding or subsequent, must be 
taken together to explain any one doubtful clause. 

3. When a case is expressed to remove any doubt, 
whether it was included or not, the extent of the clause, 
with regard to cases not so expressed, is by no means 
restrained. 

4. The conclusion of a phrase is not confined to the 
words immediately preceding, but usually extended to 
the whole antecedent phrase. 

These are copious maxims, and, with half a dozen 
more, are the stars by which we steer in the construc¬ 
tion of all public and private writings. 

Sir William Jones to J. Macpherson , Esq. 

Court House , July . 

We have just convicted a low Hindu of a foul con¬ 
spiracy, which would have ended in perjury, and (as 
his own lawgiver says) in every cause of damnation. 
If richer men were of the plot, I hope our court will 
escape the reproach of the satirist, that “ laws resemble 
“ cobwebs, which catch flies and let the wasps break 
“ through.” 

Sir William Jones to J . Macpherson , Esq f 

August 14, 1785. 

I give you my hearty thanks, my dear Sir, for the 
History of the Roman Republic, which I read with par¬ 
ticular pleasure. 

Looking over my shelves the other day, I laid my 
hand on the annexed little book ascribed to Sir Walter 
Raleigh; it is, like most posthumous works, incorrect, 
but contains, with some rubbish, a number of wise 
aphorisms and pertinent examples; it is rather the 
common-place book of some statesman, than a well-di- 


270 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


gested treatise, but it has amused me on a second read¬ 
ing, and I hope it will amuse a few of your leisure mo¬ 
ments. 

****** 

The society of Sir William Jones was too attractive, 
to allow him to employ his leisure hours in those stu¬ 
dies, which he so eagerly desired to cultivate ; and 
although no man was more happy in the conversation of 
his friends, he soon found that the unrestrained enjoy¬ 
ment of this gratification was incompatible with his 
attention to literary pursuits. He determined, there¬ 
fore, to seek some retirement, at no great distance from 
Calcutta, where he might have the benefit of air and 
exercise, and prosecute his studies without interrup¬ 
tion, during the vacations of the supreme court. For 
this purpose, he made choice of a residence at Crishna- 
gur, which had a particular attraction for him, from its 
vicinity to a Hindu college, and from this spot he writes 
to his friends. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Patrick Russel. 

Sept. 8, 1785. 

Your two kind letters found me overwhelmed with 
the business of a severe sessions and term, which lasted 
two months, and fatigued me so much, that I was forced 
to hasten from Calcutta, as fast as winds and oars could 
carry me. I am now at the ancient university of Na- 
deya, where I hope to learn the rudiments of that vene¬ 
rable and interesting language which w T as once verna¬ 
cular in all India, and in both the peninsulas, with their 
islands. Your pursuits must be delightful, and I shall 
be impatient to see the fruit of your learned labours. 
Our society goes on slowly; and hot-bed fruits are not 
so good to my taste as those which ripen naturally. 


SIR WILLIAM JONKS. 


271 


****** 

Dr. Koenig’s loss will be severely felt; he was a valu¬ 
able man, with as much simplicity as nature herself, 
whose works he studied. Do you know when his 
books are to be disposed of? I should wish to purchase, 
his Linnoeus. 

Sir William Jones to Charles Chapman , Esq . 

Sept. 28, 1785. 

I am proceeding slowly,.but surely, in this retired 
place in the study of the Sanscrit; for I can no longer 
bear to be at the mercy of our pundits, who deal out 
Hindu law as they please, and make it at reasonable 
rates, when they cannot find it ready made. I annex 
the form adopted by us for the oaths of Mussulmans; 
you will in your discretion adopt or reject it, and if 
you can collect from Mahesa pundit, who seemed a 
worthy honest man, how Hindu witnesses ought to be 
examined, and whether the Bramins can give absolution 
(I think they call it pryarchitt) for perjury, and in what 
case, you will greatly oblige me, and contribute to the 
advancement of justice. 

The conclusion of this letter expresses a sentiment, 
which, as a judge in Bengal, and friend of human na¬ 
ture, he always considered an object of the first im¬ 
portance. 

The period of his residence at his country cottage 
was necessarily limited by the duty of attending the 
supreme court; on his return to Calcutta, in October, 
he writes to John Macpherson, Esq. “ Lady Jones, 

“ and myself, received much benefit from the dry soil 
“ and pure air of Crishnagur; how long my health will 
“ continue in this town, with constant attendance in 




MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


“ court every morning, and the irksome business of 
“ justice of peace in the afternoon, I cannot foresee. 
“ If temperance and composure of mind will avail, I 
44 shall be well; but I would rather be a valetudinarian, 
44 all my life, than leave unexplored the Sanscrit mine 
44 which I have just opened. 

44 I have brought with me the father of the university 
44 of Nadeya, who, though not a Brahmin, has taught 
44 grammar and ethics to the most learned Brahmins, 
44 and has no priestly pride, with which his pupils in 
44 general abound.” 

In the year 1785, a periodical work was undertaken 
at Calcutta, under the title of the Asiatick Miscellany, 
which has been ignorantly ascribed to the Asiatick 
Society, with whose researches it had no connexion. 
The title of the work indicates the nature of its con¬ 
tents, which consisted chiefly of extracts from books 
published in Europe, relating to India, of translations 
from Oriental authors, and of poems and essays. The 
editor was occasionally assisted by the literary talents 
of gentlemen in India, and we find in the two first 
volumes, which were published in the years 1785 and 
86, the following compositions of Sir William Jones, 
who never neglected any opportunity of contributing to 
the advancement of Oriental literature: the tale of the 
Enchanted Fruit, which has already been mentioned; 
six hymns * addressed to as many Hindu deities; a 

* In his hymn to Surya or the Sun, Sir William Jones alludes to 
himself in the following beautiful lines : 

And, if they ask, what mortal pours the strain ? 

Say (for thou seest earth, air, and main) 

Say, “ From the bosom of yon silver isle, 

Where skies more softly smile, 

He came ; and lisping our celestial tongue, 

Though not from Brahma sprung, 

Draws Orient knowledge, from its fountains pure, 

Through caves obstructed long, and paths loo long obscure.” 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 27 o 

literal translation of twenty tales and fables of Nizami, 
expressly intended to assist the students of the Persian 
language ; besides other smaller pieces, from which I 
quote, with pleasure, the following beautiful tetrastick, 
which is a literal translation from the Persian : 

j On parent knees, a naked new-born child, 
l/ Weeping thou sat’st, whilst all around thee smil’d : 

| live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep, 

Calm thou may’st smile, when all around thee weep. 

The hymns, which are original compositions, are 
descriptive of the Hindu deities, to w T hom they were 
addressed; and a short introductory explanation accom¬ 
panies each. The mythological allusions and Sanscrit 
names, with which they abound, are not sufficiently 
familiar to the English reader, to enable him to derive 
that pleasure from them, which those who are acquainted 
with the manners and mythology of the Hindus feel in 
the perusal of these hymns; but, whilst they mark he 
taste and genius of the author, they supply a fund of 
information, equally novel and curious. We contem¬ 
plate with delight and surprise the admirer of the Grecian 
bards, and the pupil of the Grecian sages, led by his 
enthusiasm from the banks of the Ilyssus to the streams 
of the Ganges, celebrating, in strains not umvorthy of 
Pindar, the fabulous divinities of India, and exploring 
the sources of the Egyptian and Persian theology, and 
of the tenets of the Ionic and Italic schools of philoso¬ 
phy. These compositions were the elegant amuse¬ 
ments of hours of leisure and relaxation, which he 
never suffered to interfere with his public duties. They 
prove the versatility of those intellectual powers, which 
could immediately turn from the investigation of legal 
causes, or the solution of abstruse mathematical prob¬ 
lems, to explain and adorn the mythological fictions of 
the Hindus, in odes which the Bramins would haw* 


2/4 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


approved and admired. The variety of measures adopted 
in the composition of these hymns is remarkable; each 
of the nine* has a different form of versification, and 
if they are not all equally harmonious, they are all 
regular. The opening and conclusion of the hymn to 
Narayon is very sublime. 

On the second of February, 17&6, Sir William Jones 
delivered to the society his third annual discourse, in 
which he proposed to fill up the outlines delineated in 
his two former addresses, and promised, if the state of 
his health should permit him to continue long enough 
in India, to prepare for the annual meetings of the so¬ 
ciety, a series of short dissertations unconnected in their 
titles, but all leading to one common point of no small 
importance in the pursuit of interesting truths. He 
exhibits, in this discourse, a proof of the successful 
application of his time to the study of the Sanscrit, and 
speaks with encreased confidence of the result of his 
new attainments. The conclusion expresses his regret 
at the departure for Europe of the very ingenious mem¬ 
ber who first opened the mine of Sanscrit literature, 
an honourable tribute to the merit of Mr. Charles Wil¬ 
kins. 

Sir William had long proposed making an excursion 
to Chatigan, the eastern limits of the British dominions 
in Bengal. Exclusively of his anxiety to acquire, from 
local observation, a knowledge of the state of the coun¬ 
try, and of the manners and characters of the natives, a 
prudent attention to the re-establishment of his health, 
which had suffered from an unremitted application to 
his public duties as judge and magistrate, as well as a 
regard for that of lady Jones, now rendered the journey 
expedient. In the beginning of 1786, after the recess 


*' He wrote three more hymns afterwards. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. %7& 

of the court, he had an opportunity of executing his 
plan, and repaired to Chatigan by sea, in February. 

A short time before his departure, a discussion had 
taken place between the judges of the supreme court of 
judicature and the executive government of Bengal, 
respecting a resolution adopted by the latter, altering 
the mode in which the salaries of the judges had been 
paid. They remonstrated against the resolution ; and 
the letter written by Sir William Jones to Sir J. Mac- 
pherson on the occasion is so strongly characteristic 
of that independent spirit which he always possessed, 
that on this account it merits insertion. The remainder 
of his correspondence of this year, as far as it is proper 
to lay it before the public, follows in the order of its 
dates. 

Sir William Jones to Sir J. Macpherson , Bart . 
my dear sir, Phnceix Sloop , Feb. 5, 1786. 

Had I known where captain Light* lived in Cab 
cutta, I would not have troubled you with the annexed 
letter, but I must request you to forward it to him. It 
is an answer to an excellent letter from him, which I 
received near a twelvemonth ago. I anxiously hope he 
has completed (what no other European could begin) 
a version of the Siamese code. 

My voyage to the eastern coast will, I trust, be very 
pleasant, and I hope we shall make our part good against 
the scoundrel Peguers; though if we descry a fleet of 
boats, I believe it will be wiser to retreat on the wings 
of the Phoenix; for I am not poet enough to believe 
that another will rise from her ashes. 

I lament that our respective engagements have pre- 

* Captain Light was appointed superintendent of a new settlement 
at Penang, or Prince of Wales’s Island. He was thoroughly conversant 
in the Malay dialect. 


S7« MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

vented our meeting often, since the end of the rains; 
but six or seven hours in the morning, and two or three 
in the evening, spent in unremitted labour for the last 
three months, fatigued me so much that I had no leisure 
for society, scarcely any for natural repose. My last 
act was to sign our letter to your board on the subject 
of our salaries, and I would have called upon you to ex¬ 
postulate amicably on the measure you had pursued, if 
I had not wished to spare you the pain of defending in¬ 
defensible steps, and the difficulty of finding reasons to 
support the most unreasonable conduct. Many pas¬ 
sages in the letter were softened by my brethren, for I, 
who have long been habituated to ancient simplicity, 
am ever inclined both to write and speak as I think and 
feel; and I should certainly have asked, if we had con¬ 
versed on this matter, whether distressing and pinching 
the judges, and making them contemptible in the eyes 
of the natives, and of their own servants, was, as you 
expressed yourself last summer, assisting them with 
heart and hand; or whether forming resolutions, as the 
sub-treasurer wrote me word three weeks ago concern¬ 
ing them, of which they were the last men in the set¬ 
tlement to hear, was intended as a return for that per¬ 
fect cordiality, as far as honesty permitted, which I had 
assured you and Mr. Stables, to be one of the golden 
rules which I had early resolved to pursue in my judi¬ 
cial character. 

In a word, the measure is so totally indefensible, that 
it would have given me as much pain as yourself, to 
have discussed it. I have marked the progress of this 
business from the morning when I received Mr; M.’s 
note; and I am well persuaded, that the invasion of our 
property was not an idea conceived or approved by you, 
but forced on you by some financier, who was himself 
deluded by a conceit of impartiality, not considering that 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. t77 

the cases were by no means parallel; under this persua¬ 
sion, I beg you to believe, that the measure has not yet 
made any change in the sincere esteem, with which I 
am, dear Sir, 

Your faithful humble servant, 

William Jones, 

Sir William Jones to Thomas Caldicott, Esq. 

Chatigan , Feb. 21, 1786. 

I have been so loaded with business, that I defer¬ 
red writing to you, till it was too late to write much, and 
when the term ended, was obliged, for the sake of my 
wife’s health and my own, to spend a few weeks in this 
Indian Montpelier, where the hillocks are covered with 
pepper vines, and sparkle with blossoms of the coffee 
tree; but the description of the place would fill a volume, 
and I can only write a short letter to say, si vales, bene 
est, valeo. 

Sir William Jones to George Hardynge , Esq. 

Feb. 22, 1786. 

A w r ord to you, no! though you have more wisdom 
(et verbum sapienti, &c.) than I have, or wash to have, 
of popularity, yet I vrould not send you one word, but 
millions and trillions of words, if I were not obliged to 
reserve them for conversation. The immeasurable held, 
that lies before me in the study of Sanscrit and of Hin¬ 
du jurisprudence (the Arabic laws are familiar to me) 
compels me for the present, to suspend my intention of 
corresponding regularly with those I love*.... 

* The following sonnet, written some years before the date of Sir 
William Jones’s letter, was addressed by him to his friend: 

To G. Hardynge, Esq. 

Hardynge, whom Camden’s voice, and Camden’s fame, 

To noble thoughts, and high attempts excite, 

Whom thy learn’d sire’s well polish’d lays invite, 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


£78 

Sir William Jones to Sir J. Macpherson , Bart . 

Jaferabaci, Feb. 27, 1786. 

I cannot express, niy dear Sir, the pleasure which 
I have just received from that part of the Board’s letter 
to us, in which they set us right in our misconception 
of their preceding letter. 

I rejoice that we were mistaken, and have just signed 
our reply; it will, I persuade myself, restore the har¬ 
mony of our concert, which, if worldly affairs have any 
analogy to music, will rather be improved than spoiled 
by a short dissonant interval. You, who are a musician, 
will feel the tone of this metaphor; as to my harsher 
notes, quicquid asperius dictum est, indictum esto. In 
fact (you could not know it, but) I never had been so 
pinched in my life, for the last three months; having 
bought company’s bonds, (which nothing but extreme 
necessity could have made me sell at 30 per cent, dis¬ 
count) I was unable to pay my physician, or my mun- 
shis, and was forced to borrow (for the first time in my 
life) for my daily rice; what was worse, I was forced to 
borrow of a black man, and it was like touching a snake 
or the South American eel; in short, if our apprehensions 
had been well grounded, two of us had resolved to go 
home next season. But your letter dispersed all clouds, 
and made my mind as clear as the air of this fine climate, 

To kindle in thy breast, Phccbean flame, 

Oh rise ! oh ! emulate their lives, and claim 

The glorious meed cf many a studious night, 

And many a day spent in asserting right, 

Repressing wrong, and bringing fraud to shame. 

Nor let the glare of wealth, or pleasure’s bowTs, 

Allure thy fancy. Think how Tully shone ; 

Think how Demosthenes, with heavenly fire, 

Shook Philip’s throne, and lighten’d o’er his tow’rs. 

What gave them strength? not eloquence alone, 

But minds elate, above each low desire. 


W. J. 


279 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

where I expect to escape the heats, and all the ills they 
produce in a constitution like mine. I confess I wish 
you had accepted our offer, for half my salary is enough 
for me, and I would have received the remainder cheer¬ 
fully on any terms, as I have hitherto done; but as it is 
we are all satisfied, and your offers were so equal, that 
either would have been satisfactory to me. 

You must know T better than I can, though I am so 
much nearer the place on the frontiers, where major El- 
lerker is now encamped. I can hardly persuade myself 
that Myun Gachim Fera,* with all his bravery in words, 
will venture to pass the Naf : the whole story is curious; 
and as I am on the spot, I wish to write it with all the 
gravity of an historian, especially as I can pick out some 
part of the Pegu general’s original letter, the characters 
of which are little more than the nagari letters inverted 
and rounded. 

I now’ sit opposite to the seas, which w T afted us gently 
hither in the Phoenix; and our voyage was well timed, 
for had w^e staid two days longer, we should have been 
in a north-wester. A beautiful vale lies between the 
hillock on which the house is built and the beach, on all 
the other sides are hills finely diversified with groves, 
the walks are scented with blossoms of the champac\ 
and nagasar ;J and the plantations of pepper and coffee 
are equally new and pleasing. My wife, who desires 
her best remembrance, amuses herself with drawing, and 
I with botany. If (which I trust will not be the case), 
you should be indisposed, this is the Montpelier which 
will restore you to health, 

* A general in the service of the king of Ava, who appeared on the 
frontiers of Chatigan, with an army. The Naf is the boundary rivet 
between Chatigan and Aracan. 
t Lin. Michelia. 


4 Lin. Mesua. 


280 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Sir William Jones to Mr. Justice Hyde. 

Jaferabad , April 30, 1786. 

I delayed, my dear Sir, to answer your kind letter 
of the 10th, until I could give you an accurate account 
of my motions towards Calcutta. We shall not stay 
here a whole week longer, but proceed, as soon as we 
can make preparations for our journey, to the burning 
well,* and thence through Tipera to Dacca; an old en¬ 
gagement will oblige us to deviate a little out of our way 
to Comarcaly; and if the Jellingy be navigable, we shall 
soon be in Calcutta, if not, we must pass a second time 
through the Sundarbans; in all events, nothing I think 
can hinder my being in court on the 15th of June. Suf¬ 
fer me now to thank you, as I do most heartily, for the 

* The burning well is situated about twenty-two miles from Cliatigan, 
at the termination of a valley surrounded by hills. I visited it in 1778, 
and from recollection am enabled to give the following account of it. 
The shape of the well, or rather reservoir, is oblong, about six feet by 
four, and the depth does not exceed twelve feet. The water, which is 
always cold, is supplied by a spring, and there is a conduit for carrying 
off the superfluity; a part of the surface of the well, about a fourth, is 
covered with brick-work, which is nearly ignited by the flames, which 
flash without intermission from the surface of the water. It would ap¬ 
pear that an inflammable vapour escapes through .the water, which takes 
fire on contact with the external air; the perpetuity of the flame is occa¬ 
sioned by the ignited brick-work, as without this, much of the vapour 
would escape without conflagration. This was proved by taking away 
the covering of brick-work after the extinction of the heat, by throwing 
upon it the water of the well. The flames still continued to burst forth 
from the surface, but with momentary intermissions, and the vapour was 
always immediately kindled by holding a candle at a small distance from 
the surface of the water. A piece of silver, placed in the conduit for 
carrying off the superfluous war, was discoloured in a few minutes, and 
an infusion of tea gave a dark tinge to the water. 

On the side of a hill, distant about three miles from the burning well, 
there is a spot of ground of a few feet only in dimensions, from which 
flashes of fire burst on stamping strongly with the.foot. The appearance 
of this spot resembled that of earth on which a fire had been kindled. I 
do not recollect whether it was hot to the touch. 


281 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

very useful information which you gave me concern¬ 
ing money matters. The ancients said, (not very 
properly of their imaginary gods) £ cariorest divis homo, 
‘ quam sibi:’ but I may truly say, ‘ carior est amicis, 
1 quam sibi,’ speaking of myself and of your friendly 
attentions to me. 


Sir William Jones to Sir J. Macpherson , Bart . 

May 6, 1786. 

I delayed from day to day, and from week to week, 
the pleasure of answering your acceptable letter, which 
I received, I am afraid, so long ago as the middle of 
March. I wished to send you something interesting; 
but my days flowed on in the same equable and uniform 
tenor, and were only to be distinguished by the advances 
I made in my Persian, Indian, and botanical pursuits. 
In short, as it sometimes happens, by intending to write 
much, I had written nothing; and was preparing to give 
you some account of my motions towards the presi¬ 
dency, when I had the very great satisfaction of receiv¬ 
ing your packet full of matter, full of pleasing accounts, 
and full of just observations * * * * 

* * * I read with pleasure, while I was 

at breakfast, Mr. Forster’s lively little tract, and having 
finished my daily task of Persian-reading with a learned 
Parsi of Yezd, who accompanied me hither, I allot the 
rest of the morning to you. 

The approbation given at home to your seasonable 
exertions here, was but natural; it could not have been 
otherwise, and therefore it gives me great pleasure, but 
no surprise. Be assured that general applause ever has 
resulted, and ever will result, from good actions and 
salutary measures, as certainly as an echo, in rocky 
places, follows the voice. You will readily believe me, 
when I assure you, that I have few things more at heart 


(/ari 


ae - <x 



p P 


282 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


than that you may enjoy as much as you can desire of 
that echo, and receive no pain or injury from the rocks; 
for rocks abound, my friend, in the sea of life. 

The Scripture speaks of nations overturning their 
judges in stony places; and ambitious judges ought to 
be overturned: but, as I do not aspire, I can never fall 
from an eminence. 

The state of parties, in England, still makes me re¬ 
joice, that I am not in London. My friendships would 

lead me naturally to wish the rise of the .. while 

my conscience and my humble judgment oblige me to 

prefer ..system, as far as I know it. God grant 

he may adopt the best measures for this country, and 
give them effect by the best means, without disarrang¬ 
ing your measures, since the wheel of continual changes 
cannot but have a bad effect in the minds of the govern¬ 
ed....but I sat down to write a letter, not a treatise. 

By the way, I have read a second time here your 
friend’s Treatise on the History of Civil Society, and 
am extremely pleased with it, especially his chapter on 
the relaxation of national spirit * * * * 

* * * * * 

Your communications about the Lama will be truly 
interesting. I have read, since I left Calcutta, 800 pages 
in quarto, concerning the Mythology and History, both 
civil and natural, of Tibet. The work was printed with 
every advantage of new types and curious engravings, 
at Rome, about ten years ago, and was compiled from 
the papers of an Italian father, named Orazio, who had 
lived thirty years in that country and Napal, where he 
died. On my return, I purpose, with the permission of 
the society, to send a treatise* to the press, which ought 
to stand first in our collections, as it will be a key to 

* A Dissertation on the Orthography of Asiatic words in Roman let. 
ters. Works, vol. i. page 175. 




SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


283 


many other papers. I have caused six or seven plates 
to be engraved for it. 

Always excepting my own imperfect essays, I may 
venture to foretel, that the learned in Europe will not be 
disappointed by our first volume. But my great object, 
at which I have long been labouring, is to give our 
country a complete digest of Hindu and Mussulman 
law. I have enabled myself by excessive care to read 
the oldest Sanscrit law-books, with the help of a loose 
Persian paraphrase; and I have begun a translation of 
Menu into English; the best Arabian law-tract, I trans¬ 
lated last year. What I can possibly perform alone, I 
will by God’s blessing perform; and I would write on 
the subject to the minister, chancellor, the board of 
controul, and the directors, if I were not apprehensive 
that they who know the world, but do not fully know 
me, would think that I expected some advantage either 
of fame or patronage, by purposing to be made the Jus¬ 
tinian of India; whereas I am conscious of desiring no 
advantage, but the pleasure of doing general good. I 
shall consequently proceed in the work by my own 
strength, and will print my digest by degrees at my own 
expense, giving copies of it where I know they will be 
useful. One point I have already attained; I made the 
pundit of our court read and correct a copy of Halhed’s* 
book in the original Sanscrit, and I then obliged him 
to attest it as good law, so that he never now can give 
corrupt opinions, without certain detection. 

May your commercial blossom arrive at maturity, 
with all the vigour of Indian vegetation. 

My soul expands, like your blossom, at the idea of 
improved commerce; no subject is to me more ani¬ 
mating. 

* A translation by N. B. Halhed, Esq. of the code compiled by pun¬ 
dits, by the direction of Mr. Hastings. 


284 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


I have a commercial idea for you, not a blossom, 
but as yet a germ only. What if Persia should now 
flourish! and what if the present king, Jaffler Khan, be 
really as great a man as represented! Persia wants 
many manufactures of India, and her king would be a 
valuable ally. * * * * * * * 

I have already thanked you for your kind attentions to 
Emin, and I beg to repeat them. Many in England 
will be equally thankful. He is a fine fellow ; and if 
active service should be required, he would seek no¬ 
thing so much, as to be placed in the most perilous 
edge of the battle. 

vk. vfr *3s Ms Mr 

/fc vfy, yfc vfe v[\ vs 

In this letter we see the unabated activity of a vigor¬ 
ous mind, uniting recreation with improvement, and 
collecting, in its progress through the gardens of lite¬ 
rature, the flowers of every soil. A detailed account 
of the daily studies of Sir William Jones would surprise 
the most indefatigable ; and it may not be impertinent 
to mention, in proof of this observation, that he found 
time, during his short residence at Chatigan, in addition 
to the occupations which he has described, to peruse 
twice the heroic poem of Ferdosi, the Homer of Persia, 
supposed to contain sixty thousand couplets. Of the 
sentiments expressed in his correspondence, it is suffi¬ 
cient to remark, in general, that they do no less honour 
to his heart than to his judgment. I cannot but wish 
that he had found time to write the ample description 
which he mentions. 

Few persons have passed through a greater variety 
of hardships and perilous adventures than the person 
mentioned by Sir William Jones, under the name of 
Emin. Bom at Hamadan, in Persia, of Armenian pa¬ 
rents, and exposed during his infancy to uncommon 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


285 


disasters, while a mere youth he followed his father and 
ruined family to Calcutta. He had there an opportu¬ 
nity of observing the superiority of Europeans, in arms, 
arts, and sciences, over the Asiatics; and the impression 
which he received from it inspired an invincible desire 
in Emin to acquire the knowledge which they possessed. 
For this purpose, he determined, at all hazards, to visit 
England; and, after a long opposition from his father, 
having obtained his reluctant assent, he adopted the 
only means left for the accomplishment of his purpose, 
by working his passage, as a common sailor, in one of 
the ships belonging to the East India Company. After 
his arrival in England, he lost no time in beginning to 
acquire the instruction which he so anxiously desired ; 
but his progress was retarded by the narrowness of his 
circumstances, and he was compelled to submit to 
menial occupations and laborious employments, to pro¬ 
cure a subsistence. Fortune favoured his perseverance, 
and, in a moment of despair, he was accidentally intro¬ 
duced to the notice of the Duke of Northumberland, 
and afterwards to that of many gentlemen of rank and 
fortune, by whose assistance his views were promoted.* 

* Previous to his introduction to the duke of Northumberland, Emin 
had become acquainted with Edmund Burke, whom he accidentally met 
in the Park. After some conversation, Mr. Burke invited Emin to his 
apartments, up two pair of stairs at the sign of Pope’s Head, at a 
bookseller’s near the Temple. Emin, ignorant of the name of the 
gentleman who had treated him with so much courtesy, begged to be 
favoured with it, and Mr. Burke politely answered, u feir, my name is 
« Edmund Burke, at your service ; I am a run-away son from a father, 
“ as you are.” Pie then presented half-a-guinea to Emin, saying, 
“ upon my honour this is what I have at present, please to accept it. 

Mr. Burke the next day visited Emin, and assisted him with his 
advice as to the books which he should read. He introduced him to 
his relation, Mr. William Burke ; and, for thirty years, Emin acknow¬ 
ledges that he was treated with unceasing kindness by both. 

At the period of the commencement of his acquaintance with Mr, 
Burke, Emin had little left for his maintenance ; and the prospect of 


288 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


The great object of Emin was to obtain a knowledge 
of military tactics, in the hopes of employing it success¬ 
fully, in rescuing the liberty and religion of the country 
of his ancestors from the despotism of the Turks and 
Persians. After serving with the Prussian and English 
armies in Germany, he procured the means of trans¬ 
porting himself into the mountains of Armenia, in the 
view of offering his services to Heraclius, the reigning 
prince of Georgia, and of rousing the religious zeal and 
martial spirit of his countrymen. He had there the 
mortification to find his resources inadequate to the 
magnitude of the enterprise, and he was compelled to 
return disappointed to England. After some time 
spent in solicitation, he was enabled, by the assistance 
of his patrons, to proceed with recommendations to 
Russia, and thence, after various fatigues and impedi¬ 
ments, which his fortitude and perseverance surmounted, 
he reached Tefilis, the capital of Georgia. Alter eight 
years of wandering, perils, and distress, through the 
mountains of that country and Armenia, he was obliged 
to abandon his visionary project, and returned to his 
father in Calcutta. Still anxious for the accomplishment 
of bis plans, and no ways intimidated by the experience 
of past dangers and difficulties, he made a third attempt 
for the execution of them, and proceeded to Persia. 
This proved equally unsuccessful, and he again returned 
to Calcutta. In Emin, we see the same man, who was 

accomplishing the purpose of his voyage to England became daily more 
gloomy. “ Had not Mr. Burke consoled him now and then (to use the 
“ words of Emin), he might have been lost for ever through despair ; 
“ but his friend always advised him to put his trust in God, and he 
u never missed a day without seeing Emin. He was writing books at 
“ the time, and desired the author (i. e. Emin) to copy them ; the first 
“ was an Imitation of the late Lord Bolingbroke’s Letter; the second, 
“ The Treatise of Sublime and Beautiful.” 

Life of Emin, London edition, p. 93. 


287 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

a sailor, a porter, a menial servant, and subsisting by 
charity, the companion of nobles, and patronized by 
princes and monarchs, ever preserving, in his deepest 
distresses, a sense of honour, a spirit of integrity, a 
reliance upon Providence, and a firm adherence to the 
principles of Christianity, in which he had been edu¬ 
cated. During his residence in Calcutta, he published 
an account of his eventful life, w hich Sir William Jones 
condescended to revise, so far only as to correct ortho¬ 
graphical errors, but without any amendment of the 
style. 

From Chatigan, Sir William Jones returned to Cal¬ 
cutta, and after the recess of the court, again visited 
*his retirement at Chrisnagur, wdiere he occupied him¬ 
self as usual in his favourite studies; an account of 
which, as well as of his journey to the presidency, I 
shall supply by extracts from his familiar letters. 

Sir William Jones to Mr. Justice Hyde . 

Comar caly, June 15, 1786. 

I find that, in this country, travellers are perfect 
slaves to the seasons and elements. It was my resolu¬ 
tion when I left Dacca, to push on as expeditiously as 
possible to Calcutta; but in our passage of eight days 
last year through the Tulsi creek and the Artai river, 
our boat was hotter, day and night, than I ever felt a 
vapour-bath: till then, as much as I had reason to dread 
an Indian sun, I had not a complete idea of it. This 
affected both Lady Jones and me so much, that it would 
have been madness to have passed the Sundarbans in 
such weather; and Mr. Redfearn having promised to 
send me word, when the Jelinga becomes navigable 
(which is usually about the middle of this month) I 
expect every day to receive that intelligence, after 
which I shall be in Calcutta in eight days. I am prin- 


288 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


cipally vexed at this delay, because from your having 
taken the charge when it was Sir R. Chambers’s turn, I 
fear he must be ill, and consequently that you must have 
a great deal of trouble: give my affectionate remem¬ 
brance to him. I am, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Miss E. Shipley . 

On the Ganges , Sept . 7, 1786. 

You do too much honour, my dear Madam, to my 
compositions; they amuse me in the few hours of leisure 
that my business allows, and if they amuse my friends, 
I am amply rewarded. 

Ma si ’1 Latino e ’1 Greco 

Parian di me dopo la morte, e un vento, 

Ond’ io, perchs pavento 

Adunar sempre quel ch’ un’ ora sgombre, 

Vorrei ’1 vero abbracciar, lasciando ’1 ombre. 

We talk of the year 1790, as the happy limit of our 
residence in this unpropitious climate; but this must be 
a family secret, lest applications should be made for my 
place, and I should be shoved out before my resignation. 
God grant that the bad state of my Anna’s health may 
not compel her to leave India before me; I should re¬ 
main like a man with a dead palsy on one of his sides; 
but it were better to lose one side for a tigie than both 
for ever. I do not mean that she has been, or is likely 
to be, in danger from her complaints. I have proposed 
a visit to her friend, Lady Campbell, and she seemed to 
receive the proposal with pleasure; the sea air, and 
change of scene at a proper season, may do more than 
all the faculty with all their prescriptions. As to polh 
tics and ministers, let me whisper another secret in your 
ear: 

Io non credo piu al nero ch’ all’ azzuro: 

and, as to coalitions, if the nero be mixed with the az¬ 
zuro, they will only make a dirtier colour. India is yet 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 28 

secure, and improveable beyond imagination; it is not 
however in such a state of security, but that wise poli¬ 
ticians may, with strong well-timed exertions and well- 
applied address, contrive to lose it. The discharge of 
my duty, and the study of Indian laws in their original 
languages (which is no inconsiderable part of my duty) 
are an excuse for my neglect of writing letters; and 
indeed I find by experience, that I can take up my pen 
for that purpose but once a year, and I have a hundred 
unanswered letters now lying before me, but my Anna, 
who is my secretary of state, and first or rather sole lady 
of the treasury, has written volumes. Loves and re¬ 
gards to all who love and regard us; as to compliments, 
they are unmeaning things, and neither become me to 
send, nor you to convey. 

I am with great regard, dear Madam, 

Your faithful and affectionate servant, 

William Jones. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Patrick Russel. 

Crishna-nagur , Sept. 28, 1786. 

Various causes contribute to render me a bad cor¬ 
respondent, particularly the discharge of my public duty, 
and the studies which are connected with that duty, 
such as the Indian and Arabic laws in their several dif¬ 
ficult languages, one of which has occupied most of my 
leisure for the last twelvemonth, excepting when I travel¬ 
led to Islamabad, for the benefit of the sea air and verdant 
hillocks, during the hot season. It is only in such a 
retirement as the cottage, where I am passing a short 
vacation, that I can write to literary friends, or even 
think much on literary subjects; and it was long after 
I left this solitude last autumn, that I had the pleasure 
of receiving your most agreeable letter. 

<hq 


290 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


I am tolerably strong in Sanscrit , and hope to prove 
my strength soon by translating a law-tract of great in¬ 
trinsic merit, and extremely curious, which the Hindus 
believe to be almost as old as the creation. It is as¬ 
cribed to Menu, the Minos of India, and like him, the 
son of Jove. My present study is the original of Bid- 
pa’s fables, called Flitopadesa,* which is a charming 
book, and wonderfully useful to a learner of the language. 

I congratulate you on the completion of your two works, 
but exhort you to publish them. Think how much 
fame Koenig lost by delaying his publications. God 
knows whether any use, honourable to his memory, will 
be made of his manuscripts. Think of Mr. D’Herbe- 
lot, whose posthumous work, like most others, had the 
kite of being incorrectly published. Printing is dear at 
Calcutta; but if government would print your works, 
(as they ought) I could cheerfully superintend commas 
and colons. I am delighted with your botanical pur¬ 
suits. They talk of a public garden on the banks of the 
river near Calcutta. Flow I wish, for our sakes, you 
could be allured from the Sircars! I long to visit them, 
however, and to view your collections; though I must 
be so honest as to own, that accurate botanical descrip¬ 
tions give me more pleasure than an herbal; I mean 
where the fresh plants can be examined. For this rea¬ 
son I have not begun to collect specimens, but describe 
as well as I can; and, for brevity, in coarse Latin. Lady 
Jones assists me by her accuracy in drawing and co¬ 
louring. - 

The province of Chatigan (vulgarly Chitigong) is a 
noble field for a naturalist. It is so called, I believe, 
from the chatag , which is the most beautiful little bird 
I ever saw. The hills and woods abound with uncom- 

* Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, and published in his Works, vol. vi. 


291 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

mon plants and animals; indeed, the whole eastern 
peninsula would be a new world to a philosopher. I 
wish poor Koenig had left his papers to you ; Ranks has 
too much of his own to employ him, and Macpherson, 
who loved the sage, would, I dare say, have persuaded 
Lord Cornwallis to raise the best monument to his me¬ 
mory, a good edition of his works. I have carefully 
examined a plant, which Koenig mentioned to me, and 
called pentapethes protea , from the singular variety of 
leaves on the same tree. The natives call it Mascam- 
chand; and one of its fragrant fleshy blossoms, infused 
for a night in a glass of water, forms a mucilage of a 
very cooling quality. The pentapethes phoenicia, which 
now beautifies this plain, produces a similar mucilage, 
which might answer the same purposes as that of the 
Arabian gum, if not other and more important purposes. 
But I mention this plant, because Koenig told me that 
Linnaeus had inverted nature in his description of it, by 
assigning to it five castrated filaments, to each of which 
were annexed three prolific ones; whereas, said he, (I 
am sure I did not mistake him) the flower has fifteen 
castrated, and five prolific; so that in truth it wrnuld 
have been pentandrian. Now, I have examined all the 
flowers of this species that I could get, and I find the 
description of Linnaeus to be correct; but there is no 
accounting for the variety of a protean plant. 

Many thanks for your offer of Mr. D’Hancarville, but 
I have the book, though, like you, I have not read it. I 
wish to be firm in Sanscrit, before I read systems of 
mythology. We have sent the first papers of our trans¬ 
actions to the press, and shall go on as fast as Mr. G.’s 
compositor will let us. Farewel, my dear Sir; vivere, 
valere, et philosophari cum paucis, is what I wish for 
you, as much as for your, &c. 


292 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Sir William Jones to William Shipley ,* Esq . 

Chris/ina-nagur , Oct . 5, 178’6. 

I blush, my dear Sir, in reading a second or third 
time, with encreasing delight, your excellent letters Rem 
Maidstone, when I compare the dates of them with that 
of my answer. Various, however, are the causes which 
oblige me to be an indifferent and slow correspondent; 
first, illness, which had confined me three months to my 
couch, where your first letter found me, on the great 
river; next, the discharge of an important duty, which 
falls peculiarly heavy on the Indian judges, who are 
forced to act as justices of the peace in a populous 
country, where the police is deplorably bad; then the 
difficult study of Hindu and Mahommedan latvs, in two 
copious languages, Sanscrit and Arabic, which studies 
are inseparably connected with my public duty, and may 
tend to establish by degrees, among ten millions of our 
black subjects, that security of descendable property, a 
want of which, as you justly observe, has prevented the 
people of Asia from improving their agriculture and 
mechanical arts; lastly, I may add (though rather an 
amusement than a duty) my pursuit of general literature, 
which I have here an opportunity of doing from the 
fountain head; an opportunity which, if lost, may never 
be recovered. When I accept, therefore, with gratitude 
the honour offered me by your young Hercules, the 

* William Shipley, Esq. brother to the late bishop of St. Asaph, and 
now in his 89th year. He suggested the idea of the Society for the En¬ 
couragement of Arts, Commerce, &c. which was established in 1753, 
and, in the following year, a gold medal was voted to him by the society, 
with an inscription: 

To William Shipley, 
whose public Spirit 
gave Rise to this 
Society. 


293 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Maidstone Society, of being one of their corresponding 
members, I cannot indulge a hope of being a diligent or 
useful correspondent, unless any discovery should be 
made by our Indian Society, which I may think likely 
to be,of use in our common country. Your various 
papers I have distributed among those who seemed the 
likeliest to avail themselves of the rules and hints which 
they contain. The rapidity of the Ganges makes it 
extremely difficult to rescue the unhappy persons who 
are overset in boats, especially at the time of the bore * 
when such accidents most usually happen; but I am 
confident that the methods prescribed in the little work 
which you sent me, will often be salutary even here. 
Dr. Johnson’s tract I have now lent to a medical friend 
of great ability; and I am particularly interested in the 
security of our prisons from infection, to which indeed 
they are less liable in this climate, from our practice of 
sleeping in a draught of air whenever it can be had. 
Without this habit, to which I am now enured, we 
should never be free from putrid disorders. % * 

****** Should your 
society be so extended as to admit all Kent, you will, I 
trust, have an excellent member in one of my oldest 
college friends, doctor Breton, of Broughton, near Ash¬ 
ford, who has left no path of science or literature unex¬ 
plored. We shall print our transactions with all speed 
consistent with accuracy; but as all our members, in¬ 
cluding even our printer, are men of business, in com¬ 
merce, revenue, or judicature, we cannot proceed very 

* The bore , is an expression applied to a peculiar swell in the Hughli 
river, occasioned by the rapid influx of the tide : it breaks in shallow 
water along the shore, and no boat can resist its violence. The noise 
of its approach is heard at the distance of some miles, and the boats, to 
avoid it, are rowed into deep water, where the agitation is considerable, 
but not dangerous. The bores are highest about the equinoxes, and at 
the middle periods between them cease altogether. 


294 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


rapidly, either in giving the public the tracts we have 
already collected, or in adding to our collection. 

Sir William Jones to Sir J. Macpherson , Bart . 

Calcutta , Nov. 1786. 

The society heard, with pleasure, the curious 
account of the Lama’s inauguration; and the first sheet 
of their transactions is printed. * * * 

* * * * * * * Be assured, 

that I will ever remember the contents of your own 
letter; and accept my thanks for the pleasure which I 
have received from that of Mr. Adam Ferguson to you. 
One sentence of it is so wise, and so well expressed, 
that I read it till I had it by heart, “ Justice to the 
stranger,” &c. 

I am correcting proofs of our Transactions, which 
will, I hope, satisfy Mr. Ferguson as to the theology 
of the Hindus. By rising before the sun, I allot an 
hour every day to Sanscrit, and am charmed with know¬ 
ing so beautiful a sister of Latin and Greek 

•Sfe ^ 

Magnum vectigal est parsimonia, is an aphorism 
which I learned early from Cicero. The public, if they 
are grateful, must wish that you had attended as vigi¬ 
lantly to your own vectigal, as you have wisely and 
successfully to theirs. 

In September, Lord Cornwallis arrived at Fort 
William, with the appointment of governor-general ; 
and the writer of these sheets* who accompanied him 
to India, had the happiness of renewing his personal 
intimacy with Sir William Jones. 

The uniformity which marked the remaining period 
of his allotted existence admits of little variety of deli- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


!95 


neation. The largest portion of each year was devoted 
to his professional duties and studies ; and all the time 
that could be saved from these important avocations 
was dedicated to the cultivation of science and litera¬ 
ture. Some periods were chequered by illness, the 
consequence of intense application; and others were 
embittered by the frequent and severe indisposition of 
the partner of his cares and object of his affections. 
<c The climate of India (as he had already found occa- 
“ sion to remark in a letter to a friend) had been un- 
“ propitious to the delicate constitution of his beloved 
“ wife;” and so apprehensive was he of the conse¬ 
quences, that he intended, “ unless some favourable 
“ alteration should take place, to urge her return to her 
“ native country; preferring the pang of separation, 
“ for live or six years, to the anguish, which he should 
hardly survive, of losing her.” 

While business required the daily attendance of Sir 
William Jones in Calcutta, his usual residence was on 
the banks of the Ganges, at the distance of five miles 
from the court: to this spot he returned every evening 
after sun-set, and in the morning rose so early as to 
reach his apartments in town, by walking, at the first 
appearance of the dawn. Having severely suffered 
from the heat of the sun, he ever afterwards dreaded 
and avoided the exposure to it; and, in his hymn to 
Surya, he alludes to its effects upon him, and to his 
moon-light rambles, in the following lines: 

Then roves thy poet free, 

Who, with no borrow’d art, 

Dares hymn thy pow’r, and durst provoke thy blaze, 

But felt the thrilling dart; 

And now, on lowly knee, 

From him who gave the wound, the balsam prays. 

The intervening period of each morning, until the 


296 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


opening of the court, was regularly allotted and applied 
to distinct studies. He passed the months of vacation 
at his retirement at Crishna-nagur, in his usual pur¬ 
suits. Some of the literary productions of his retire¬ 
ment will be noticed; and I shall now continue my 
extracts from his familiar correspondence. 

Sir William Jones , to J. Shore Esq. 

Gardens , near Calcutta , March 25, 1787. 

I am charmed, my dear Sir, with the short but 
comprehensive work of Rhadacaunt, your pundit, the 
title of which I see is Puran-arthupracusam, or the 
meaning of the Purans displayed. It contains pedi¬ 
grees, or lists of kings, from the earliest times to the 
decline of the Indian empire; but the proper names are 
so murdered, or so strangely disguised in Persian 
letters, that I am only tantalized with a thirst for more 
accurate information. If the pundit, at your request, 
will lend me the original, my mahratta writer shall copy 
it elegantly, with spaces between the lines for a literal 
English translation, which may perhaps be agreeable, 
with your consent, to our society. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq. 

May 11, 1787. 

I return with many thanks, my dear Sir, the letter 
of his High Mightiness Tathu Arnu (king of Ava*). 

* If the reader has a curiosity to see this singular letter, he may 
gratify it. The perusal may, perhaps,.recall to his recollection the 
following lines: 

Here’s a large mouth indeed, 

That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas! 

Translation of a letter from the Rajah or principal of the Burmas to 
the Collector of Chittagong: 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 297 

When I began it I feared it was hostile, but am glad to 
find it so amicable. Dulce mihi nomen pads! If he 

I am lord of a whole people, and of 101 countries, and my titles are 
Rajah Chatterdary (i. e. sitting under a canopy) and Rajah Surey 
Runkshee, (i. e. descendant of the Sun). Sitting on the throne with a 
splendid canopy of gold, I hold in subjection to my authority many 
rajahs ; gold, silver, and jewels, are the produce of my country, and in 
my hand is the instrument of war, that, as the lightning of heaven, 
humbles and subdues my enemies ; my troops require neither injunc¬ 
tions nor commands, and ray elephants and horses are without nnmber. 
In my service are ten pundits learned in the Shaster, and 104 priests, 
whose wisdom is not to be equalled: agreeably to whose learning and 
intelligence I execute and distribute justice among my people, so that 
my mandates, like the lightning, suffer no resistance nor control. My 
subjects are endowed with virtue and the principles of justice, and re¬ 
frain from all immoral practices, and I am as the sun, blessed with the 
light of wisdom, to discover the secret designs of men ; whoever is wor¬ 
thy of being called a rajah, is merciful and just towards his people; 
thieves, robbers, and disturbers of the peace, have at length received 
the punishment due to their crimes; and now the word of my mouth is 
dreaded as the lightning from heaven. I am as a great sea, among 
2000 rivers, and many rivulets, and as the mountain Shumeroo, sur¬ 
rounded by 40,000 hills, and like unto these is my authority, extending 
itself over 101 rajahs; further, 10,Q0O rajahs pay daily attendance at 
my Durbar, and my country excels every country of the world ; my 
palace, as the heavens, studded with gold and precious stones, is revered 
more than any other palace in the universe. My occupations resemble 
the business of the chief of the angels, and I have written unto all the 
provinces of Arracan, with orders to forward this letter in safety to 
Chittagong, formerly subject to the rajah Sery Tamiah Chucka, by 
whom the country was cultivated and populated ; and he erected 240© 
places of public worship, and made 24 tanks. 

Previous to his accession the country was subject to other rajahs, 
whose title was Chatterdary, who erected places of worship, and ap¬ 
pointed priests to administer the rites of religion to people of every 
denomination ; but ^tthat period the country was ill governed, previous 
to the accession of rajah Sery Tamah Chucka to the government of 
the countries of Rutunpoor, Dootinady, Arracan, Booraputty, Ram- 
putty, Chagdoye, Mahadaye, Mawong, in whose time the country was 
governed with justice and ability, and his wisdom was as the lightning; 
and the people were happy under his administration. He was also 
favoured with the friendship of the religious men of the age, one of 
whom, by name Budder, resorting to his place of residence, was solicited 
by the Rajah to appoint some one for the purpose of instructing him. 


R r 


298 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


is at peace with the Siamese, he may be a good neigh¬ 
bour, and we may be gainers by his gold and ivory ; 

in religious rites, and Shawhmany was accordingly appointed agreeably 
to the rajah’s requisition ; at this time it rained from Heaven, gold, 
silver, and precious stones, which were buried under ground in 
charge of the above priest, whose house was of gold and silver work¬ 
manship, to which the people resort, and worship the deities ; and the 
rajah kept a large establishment of servants and of slaves at the 
temple, for the service of travellers and passengers ; and his time was 
engaged in the Studying of the five books, and he always refrained from 
immoral practices and deeds interdicted by his religion, and the priests, 
&c. abstained from the flesh of geese, pigeons, goats, hogs, and of fowls; 
and wickedness, theft, adultery, lying, drunkenness, were unknown in 
that age. I likewise pursue a line of conduct and religion similar to 
the above; but, previous to my conquest of Arracan, the people were as 
snakes wounding men, a prey to enmity and disorder; and in several 
provinces there were eaters of the flesh of men, and wickedness pre¬ 
vailed amongst them, so that no man could trust his neighbour. At this 
time One Bowdah Outhar, otherwise Sery Boot Taukwor, came down 
in the country of Arracan, and instructed the people and the beasts of 
the field in the principles of religion and rectitude, and agreeably to his 
word the country was governed for a period of 5000 years, so that peace 
and good-will subsisted amongst men ; agreeably hereto is the tenor of 
my conduct and government of my people: as there is an oil, the pro¬ 
duce of a certain spot of the earth, of exquisite flavour, so is my dignity 
and power above that of other rajahs; and Taffloo Rajah, the high 
priest, having consulted with the others of that class, represented to 
me on 15th Aughur 1148, saying, do you enforce the laws and customs 
of Sery Boot Taukwor, which I accordingly did, and moreover erected 
six places of divine worship, and have conformed myself strictly to the 
laws and customs of Sery Tamah Chucka, governing my people with 
lenity and justice. 

As the country of Arracan lies contiguous to Chittagong, if a treaty 
©f commerce were established between me and the English, perfect 
amity and alliance would ensue from such engagements; therefore I have 
submitted it to you, that the merchants of your country should resort 
hither for the purpose of purchasing pearls, ivory, wax, and that in 
return my people should be permitted to resort to Chittagong for the 
purpose of trafficking in such commodities as the country may afford ; 
but as the Mugs residing at Chittagong have deviated from the prin¬ 
ciples of religion and morality, they ought to be corrected for their 
errors and irregularities agreeably to the written laws, insomuch as 
those invested with power will suffer eternal punishment in case of any 
deviation from their religion and laws, but whoever conforms his conduct 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


299 


but I have no inclination to taste his sweet and deli¬ 
cious petroleum, which he praises so highly; I am 
satisfied with the smell of it, and with its singular pro¬ 
perty of restoring the scent of Russia leather. I am 
told he is an able man; but from all I can learn, I sus¬ 
pect him to be an ambitious dog, who would act the 
lion if he could, and end, as he is said to have begun, 
the Aurenzeb of the Indian peninsula. 

We are pretty well, and hope that you are now in 
good health. You will not (though you dislike 
medicine) object to my prescription: 

Take a concerto of Corelli, 

An air of Leo, orPergolesi, 

.. a trio of Haydn, 8tc. Mixtura fiat. 

Would I could be as good a physician to you, 

As I am, See. 

Sir JVilliam Jones to J. Shore , Esq . 

May 12, 1787. 

You have sent me a treasure, which will enable me 
to satisfy my mind at least on the chronology of India; 
need I say, that I shall ever be happy in the conversa¬ 
tion of so learned a man as Rhadacaunt? Before I 
return to .Calcutta, I shall have read his interesting 
book, and shall be better able to converse with him in 
Sanscrit, which I speak continually with my pundit. 

I can easily conceive all your feelings; but consider, 
my dear friend, that you are now collecting for yourself 
(while you serve your country) those flowers which will 

to the strict rules of piety and religion will hereafter be translated to 
Heaven. I have accordingly sent four elephants’ teeth under charge 
of 30 persons, who will return with your answer to the above proposals 
and offers of alliance. 



300 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


give a brighter bloom even to the valleys of Devon¬ 
shire, that you are young, and have as fair a prospect of 
long happiness as any mortal can have. I predict, that 
when I meet you a few years hence at Teignmouth, 
where I hope to spend many a season with all that my 
soul cherishes in this world, I shall hear you confess, 
that your painful toil in India conduced in the end to 
your happiness. That you may enjoy as much of it as 
human life affords is the sincere wish of, &c. 

Sir William ones to J. Shore , Esq . 

June 24. 

# * ¥ 

* * I am well, rising constantly between 

three and four, and usually walking two or three miles 
before sun-rise; my wife is tolerably well; and we only 
lament, that the damp weather will soon oblige us to 
leave our herds and flocks, and all our rural delights on 
the banks of the Baghiratti. The business of the court 
will continue at least two months longer, after which I 
purpose to take a house at Bandell or Hugli, and pass 
my autumnal vacation as usual with the Hindu bards. 
I have read your pundit’s curious book twice in 
Sanscrit, and will have it elegantly copied; the D abut an 
also I have read through twice with great attention ; and 
both copies are ready to be returned, as you shall direct. 
Mr. II. Johnston thinks he has a young friend who will 
translate the Dabistan , and the greatest part of it would 
be very interesting to a curious reader, but some of it 
cannot be translated. It contains more recondite learn¬ 
ing, more entertaining history, more beautiful speci¬ 
mens of poetry, more ingenuity and 'wit, more inde¬ 
cency and blasphemy, than I ever saw' collected in a 
single volume; the two last are not the author’s, but 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


aoi 

are introduced in the chapters on the heretics and infi¬ 
dels of India. On the whole, it is the most amusing’ 
and instructive book I ever read in Persian.* 

I hear nothing from Europe, but what all the papers 
contain; and that is enough to make me rejoice exceed¬ 
ingly, that I am in Asia. Those with whom I have 
spent some of my happiest hours, and hope to spend 
many more on my return to England, are tearing one 
another to pieces, with the enmity that is proverbial 
here of the snake and the ichneumon. I have nothing 
left, therefore, but to wish what is right and just may 
prevail, to discharge my public duties with unremitted 
attention, and to recreate myself at leisure with the 
literature of this interesting country. 

Sir William Jones to J, Shore , Esq. 

Crishna-nagur , Aug . Id, 1787. 

I thank you heartily, my dear Sir, for the tender 
strains of the unfortunate Charlotte, )' which have given 
us pleasure and pain: the sonnets which relate to her- 
self are incomparably the best. Petrarca is little known; 
his sonnets, especially the first book, are the least valu¬ 
able of his works, and contain less natural sentiments- 
than those of the swan of Avon; but his odes, which 
are political, are equal to the lyric poems of the Greeks; 
and his triumphs are in a triumphant strain of sub¬ 
limity and magnificence. Anna Maria gives you many 

* The Dabistan is a treatise on twelve different religions, com¬ 
posed by a Mahommedan traveller, a native of Cashmir, named 
Mohsan, but distinguished by the assumed name of Fani, or perishable. 
Sir William Jones, in his sixth discourse to the society, on the Persians, 
refers to it as a rare and interesting tract, which had cast a gleam of 
light on the primeval history of Iran and the human race, of which lie 
had long despaired, and which could hardly have dawned from any other 
quarter. 

f Sonnets by Charlotte Smith. 


502 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

thanks for the pleasures von have procured her. We 
are in love with this pastoral cottage ; but though these 
three months are called a vacation, yet I have no vacant 
hours. It rarely happens that favourite studies are 
closely connected with the strict discharge of our duty, 
as mine happily are; even in this cottage I am assisting 
the court by studying the Arabic and Sanscrit, and 
have now rendered it an impossibility for the Mahom- 
medan or Hindu lawyers to impose upon us w ith erro¬ 
neous opinions. 

This brings to my mind your honest pundit, Rhada- 
caunt, who refused, I hear, the office of pundit to the 
court, and told Mr. Hastings that he would not accept 
of it, if the salary were doubled; his scruples w^ere 
probably religious; but they would put it out of my 
power to serve him, should the office again be vacant. 
His unvarnished tale I would have .repeated to you, if 
we had not missed one another on the river; but since 
I despair of seeing you until my return to Calcutta, at 
the end of October, I w T ill set it down here, as nearly 
as I can recollect, in his own words : 

“ My father (said he) died at the age of an hundred 
“ years, and my mother, who w~as eighty years old, 
‘‘became a sati, and burned herself to expiate sins. 
“ They left me little besides good principles. Mr. 
“ Hastings purchased for me a piece of land, which at 
« first yielded twelve hundred rupees a year; but lately, 
“ either through attention or througn accident, it 
“ has produced only one thousand. This would be 
“ sufficient for me and my family; but the duty of 
“ Brahmans is not only to teach the youths of their 
“ sect, but to relieve those who are poor. I made many 
“ presents to poor scholars, and others in distress, and 
“ for this purpose I anticipated my income: I was then 
“ obliged to borrow for my family expenses, and I now 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


3.03 


“ owe about three thousand rupees. This debt is my 
“ only cause of uneasiness in this world. I would have 
44 mentioned it to Mr. Shore, but I w^as ashamed.” 

Now r the question is, how he can be set upon his 
legs again, when I hope he will be more prudent. If 
Bahman* should return to Persia, I can afford to give 
him one hundred rupees a month, till his debt shall be 
discharged out of his rents; but at present, I pay more 
in salaries to native scholars than I can well afford; 
nevertheless I will cheerfully join you in any mcde of 
clearing the honest man, that can be suggested ; and I 
would assist him merely for his own sake, as I have 
more Brahmanical teachers that I can find time to 
hear. 

I send you not an elegant pathetic sonnet, but the 
wildest and strangest poem that was ever written, 
Khakam’s complaint in prison. The-whole is a menace, 
that he would change his religion, and seek protection 
among the Christians, or the G^tbres. It contains one 
or two proper names, of which I find no full explanation 
even in a commentary professedly written to illustrate 
the poem. The fire of Khakam’s genius blazes through 
the smoke of his erudition; the measure of the poem, 
which will enable you to correct the errors of the 
copies, is 

u-— o-u- 

with a strong accent 
on the last syllable of each foot. Adieu, my dear 
Sir, &c. 

* A parsi and native of Yezd, employed by Sir William Jones as a 
reader. 





304 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Sir William Jones to Jos. Cow per, Esq. 

Of St. Valolre, near Bray, Ireland. 

Chrishna-nagur, Sep. 11, 1787. 

I give you my hearty thanks, dear Sir, for your 
kind attention to me, and for the pleasure which I have 
received from your letter, as well as for that which I 
certainly shall receive from your historical memoirs of 
the Irish Bards. The term being over before your 
book could be found, and the state of my health obliging 
me to seek this pastoral retreat, where I always pass my 
vacation among the Brahmans of this ancient university, 
I left Calcutta before I could read your work, but 
shall peruse it with eagerness on my return to the 
capital. You touched an important string, when you 
mentioned the subject of Indian music, of which I am 
particularly fond. I have just read a very old book on 
that art in Sanscrit. I hope to present the world with 
the substance of it, as soon as the transactions of our 
society can be printed; but we go on slowly, since the 
press is often engaged by government; and we think it 
better to let our fruit ripen naturally, than to bring forth 
such watery and imperfect fruits as are usually raised 
in hot-beds. The Asiatic Miscellany, to which you 
allude, is not the publication of our society, who mean 
to print no scraps, nor any mere translations. It was 
the undertaking of a private gentleman, and will cer¬ 
tainly be of use in diffusing Oriental literature, though 
it has not been so correctly printed as I could wish. 
When you see colonel Valiancy, whose learned work I 
have read through twice with great pleasure, I request 
you to present him with my best remembrance. We shall 
soon, I hope, see faithful translations of Irish histories 
and poems. 1 shall be happy in comparing them with 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


305 


the Sanscrit, with which the ancient language of Ireland 
had certainly an affinity. Proceed, Sir, in your laud¬ 
able career; you deserve the applause of your country, 
and will most assuredly have that of, Sir, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Patrick Russel. 

Chrishna-nagur. Sept. 22, 1787. 

Your interesting papers did not find their way to 
me till I had left this cottage, and was wholly immersed 
in business. Indeed, I am so harrassed for eight months 
in twelve, that I can seldom think of literature till the 
autumn vacation, which I pass in this charming plain, 
the driest in Bengal, and close to a college of Brahmans. 
I am charmed with your plan; and if the directors have 
not yet resolved to print the work at their expense, I 
can perhaps suggest a mode of procuring very powerful 
influence with them. The king has much at heart his 
new botanical garden at St. Vincent’s; his object is two¬ 
fold, to improve the commerce of the West-India is¬ 
lands, and to provide the British troops on service there 
with medicinal plants. Now, if you could send a box 
or two of seeds, likely to be useful in commerce or me¬ 
dicine, directed to Sir George Young, the secretary at 
war, (to whom I have inclosed your letter to the board 
at Madras) I dare say the Board of Controul would be 
desired to use their influence with the directors. * 
* * * # You could not have chosen a 

better specimen than the pedalium murex i of which lit¬ 
tle is said by Linnaeus, and that from doubtful authority. 
The opuntia I have not seen here, and I cannot ramble 
into the woods. Our groves at this place are skirted 
with an angulated cactus , called sija (pronounced seeja) 
in the Sanscrit dictionaries, where I find the names of 
about 300 medicinal plants, the virtues of which are men¬ 
tioned in medicinal books. I agree with you that those 


306 


MEMOIRS OF THE-LIFE OF 


books do not carry full conviction; but they lead to use¬ 
ful experiments, and are therefore valuable. I made fine 
red ink, by dropping a solution of tin in aqua regia into 
an infusion of the coccus , which Dr. Anderson was so 
polite as to send to me. His discovery will, I trust, be 
useful; his ardour and ingenuity deserve success. 

I have just read with attention the Philosophia Bota- 
nica , which I consider as the grammar, and the Genera 
et Species as the dictionary, of botany. It is a masterly 
work, and contains excellent matter in a short volume; 
but it is harshly, not to say barbarously, written. I 
grieve to see botany imperfect in its two most import¬ 
ant articles, the natural orders and the virtues of plants, 
between which I suspect a strong affinity. I envy those 
who have leisure to pursue this bewitching study. 

Pray, my dear Sir, have you the Oriental manuscripts 
of my friend Dr. Alexander Russel ? lie lent me three, 
which 1 returned; the Sucardan , the Banquet of Physi¬ 
cians , and a beautiful Hafez . If you have them I shall 
beg leave to read them again, when we meet in Europe. 

Postcript. What is spikenard? I mean, botanically, 
what is the natural order, class, genus, &c. of the plant? 
What was the spikenard, in the. alabaster-box of the 
Gospel ? What was nardi parvus onyx ? What did 
Ptolemy mean by the excellent nard of Rhangamutty in 
Bengal? I have been in vain endeavouring for above 
two years to procure an answer to these questions; your 
answer will greatly oblige me. 

Sir William Jones to Thomas Caldicott , Esq . 

Crishna-nagur , Sept . 27, 1787. v 
Your brother sent me your letter at a convenient 
time, and to a convenient place, for I can only write in 
the long vacation, which I generally spend in a delight¬ 
ful cottage, about as far from Calcutta as Oxford is 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 30 7 

from London, and close to an ancient university of Brah¬ 
mans, with whom I now converse familiarly in Sanscrit. 
You would be astonished at the resemblance between 
that language and both Greek and Latin. Sanscrit and 
Arabic will enable me to do this country more essen¬ 
tial service than the introduction of arts (even if I 
should be able to introduce them), by procuring an ac¬ 
curate digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws, which 
the natives hold sacred, and by which both justice and 
policy require that they should be governed. 

I have published nothing; but Armenian clerks make 
such blunders, that I print ten or twenty copies of every 
thing I compose, which are to be considered as manu¬ 
scripts. I beg you will send me your remarks on my 
plan of an epic poem. Sanscrit has engaged my vaca¬ 
tions lately; but I will finish it, if I live. I promise you 
to attend to all that is said, especially if alterations are 
suggested, always reserving to myself the final judg¬ 
ment. One thing I am inflexible in: I have maturely 
considered the point, and am resolved to write in blank 
verse. I have not time to add my reasons; but they are 
good. 

I thank you for Sheridan’s speech, which I could 
not however read through. For the last sixteen years 
of my life, I have been in a habit of requiring evidence 
of ail assertions, and I have no leisure to examine proofs 
in a business so foreign to my pursuits.' * * * 

.%. * * ****** * 
If Hastings and Impey are guilty, in God’s name let 
them be punished; but let them not be condemned 
without legal evidence. I will say more of myself, 
than you do of yourself, but in few words. I never was 
unhappy in England; it was not in my nature to be so; 
but I never was happy till I was settled in India. My 
constitution has overcome the climate; and if I could 


308 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


say the same of my beloved wife, I should be the hap¬ 
piest of men; but she has perpetual complaints, and of 
course I am in perpetual anxiety on her account. 

Sir William Jones to J. Wilmot , Esq . 

Crisbna-nagur , Bengal , Oct . 3, 1787. 
#*..** * * * 

P * I cannot, however, let the season slip, with¬ 
out scribbling a few lines to tell you, that my constitu¬ 
tion seems to have overcome the climate, and that I 
should be as happy as a mortal man can be, or perhaps 
ought to be, if my wife had been as well as I have for 
the last three years. 

I have nothing to say of Indian politics, except that 
Lord Cornwallis and * * are justly popular, and 

perhaps the most virtuous governors in the world. Of 
English politics I say nothing; because I doubt whether 
you and I should ever agree in them. I do not mean 
the narrow politics of contending parties, but the great 
principles of government and legislation, the majesty of 
the whole nation collectively, and the consistency of 
popular rights with real prerogative, which ought to be 
supported, to suppress the oligarchical power. But in 
India I think little of these matters. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq . 

Chrishna-nagnr , Oct . 10, 1787. 

I hope in less than a fortnight to see you in perfect 
health, as I shall leave this charming retreat on the 
20th. I want but a few leaves of having read your 
copy of Hafez twice through; and I am obliged to you 
for the most agreeable task (next the Shah-nameh) I 
ever performed. The annexed elegy * was sent to me 

* The elegy alluded to, which has been since printed in a collection 
of poems, is the following : 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


309 


by the post; and I send it to you, because I think you 
will like it. There is a great pathos in the fourth te¬ 
trastich ; and I know unhappily that excessive grief is 
neither full of tears, nor full of words; yet, if a dramatic 
poet were to represent such grief naturally, I doubt 
whether his conduct would be approved; though, with 
fine acting and fine sounds in the orchestra, it ought to 
have a wonderful eifect. Lady J. is pretty well; a tiger , ^ 
about a month old, who is suckled by a goat, and has 
t all the gentleness of his foster-mother, is now playing 
at her feet. I call him Jupiter. Adieu. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Ford. 

Gardens , on the Ganges , Jan. 5, 1788. 
Give me leave to recommend to your kind atten¬ 
tions Colonel Polier, who will deliver this to you at 

PHILEMON, AN ELEGY. 

Where shade yon yews the church-yard’s lonely bourn, 

With faltering step, absorb’d in thought profound, 

Philemon wends in solitude to mourn, 

While evening pours her deep’ning glooms around. 

Loud shrieks the blast, the sleety torrent drives, 

Wide spreads the tempest’s desolating power; 

To grief alone Philemon reckless lives ; 

No rolling peal he heeds, cold blast, nor shower. 

For this the date that stampt his partner’s doom; 

His trembling lips receiv’d her latest breath. 

“ Ah! wilt thou drop one tear on Emma’s tomb ?” 

She cried; and clos’d each wistful eye in death. 

No sighs he breath’d; for anguish riv’d his breast; 

Her clay-cold hand he grasp’d, no tears he shed, 

’Till fainting nature sunk, by grief oppress’d, 

And, ere distraction came, all sense was fled. 

Now time has calm’d, not cur’d, Philemon’s woe; 

For grief like his, life-woven, never dies; 

And still each year’s collected sorrows flow, 

As, drooping o’er his Emma’s tomb, he sighs. 


310 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Oxford. He presents to the university an extremely 
rare work in Sanscrit, a copy of the four vedas , or 
Indian scriptures, which confirm, instead of opposing, 
the Mosaic account of the creation, and of the deluge. 
He is himself one of the best-disposed and best-informed 
men, who ever left India. If he embark to morrow, I 
shall not be able to send you by him an Arabic manu¬ 
script, which I have read with a native of Mecca, the 
poems of the great Ali. * * * * 

Our return to Europe is very distant; but I hope, be¬ 
fore the end of the eighteenth century, to have the plea¬ 
sure of conversing with you, and to give you a good 
account of Persia, through which I propose to return. 

Sir William Jones to Sir Joseph Banks . 

Gar dens , near Calcutta , Feb . 25, 1788. 

I was highly gratified by your kind letter, and have 
diffused great pleasure among our astronomers here, 
by shewing them an account of the lunar volcano. The 
Brahmans, to whom I have related the discovery in 
Sanscrit, are highly delighted with it. Public business 
presses on me so 'heavily at this season, that I must 
postpone the pleasure of writing fully to you, till I can 
retire in the long vacation to my cottage, where I hear 
nothing of plaintiffs or defendants.' Your second com¬ 
mission I will faithfully execute, and have already made 
enquiries concerning the dacca cotton; but I shall be 
hardly able to procure the seeds, &c. before the Rod¬ 
ney sails. 

****** 

These letters describe the elegant occupations of a 
mind disciplined in the school of science, ardent to 
embrace it in all its extent, and to make even its amuse¬ 
ments subservient to the advancement of useful know- 


311 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

ledge and the public good. From the discharge of 
his appointed duties, we see Sir William Jones return¬ 
ing with avidity to his literary pursuits, improving his 
acquaintance with botany, and, relaxing from the seve¬ 
rity of study by the perusal of the most admired Orien¬ 
tal authors, communicating his pleasures and acquire¬ 
ments to his friends. There are few of his letters in 
which he does not introduce the name of Lady Jones, 
with that affection which never abated: she was his 
constant companion, and the associate of the literary 
entertainment which occupied and amused his even¬ 
ings. 

Amongst the letters which I have transcribed, I can¬ 
not pass, without particular notice, that which he wrote? 
to me in the beginning of 1737. The prediction which/ 1 
it contains is a melancholy proof of the disappointment 
of human expectations; and I am now discharging the 
duty of affection for his memory, at a short distance' 
only from the spot which he mentions as the anticipated 
scene of future delight; and where I once fondly hoped 
to enjoy the happiness of his society. That happiness 
would indeed have imparted a higher bloom to the val¬ 
leys of Devonshire, which I now trace with the melan¬ 
choly recollection that the friend whom I loved, and 
whose virtues I admired, is no more. 

The introduction of the unvarnished tale of his re¬ 
spectable friend is a proof of that kindness and sensi¬ 
bility which he ever felt for distressed merit. It is 
superfluous to add, what the reader will have anticipated, 
that the disposition to relieve his wants was not suffered 
to evaporate in mere profession. 

In the midst of his public duties and literary employ¬ 
ments, political speculations had but little share of his 
attention; yet, the sentiments which he occasionally 
expresses on this subject do honor to his heart, and 


312 . MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

prove that the welfare of his country was always nearest 
to it. 

The hope with which he hatters himself, that his 
constitution had overcome the climate, was unfortu¬ 
nately ill-founded; few months elapsed without his 
suffering from the effects of it, and every attack had 
a tendency to weaken the vigour of his frame. 

Among other literary designs, which he meditated, 
he mentions the plan of an epic poem. It was founded 
on the same story which he had originally selected for 
a composition of the same nature in his twenty-second 
year; the discovery of England by Brutus: but his 
acquaintance with Hindu mythology had suggested to 
him the addition of a machinery perfectly new, by the 
introduction of the agency of the Hindu deities; and, 
however wild or extravagant the fiction may appear, 
the discordancy may be easily reconciled by the actual 
subjection of Hindustan to the British dominion, poeti¬ 
cally visible to the guardian angels of that country. It is 
natural to suppose that the design of Pope, to write an 
epic poem on the same subject, may in the first instance 
have suggested the idea to Sir William Jones. It is 
evident, however, that he was not disposed to abandon 
the execution of his purpose by the strictures of Dr. 
Johnson, on Pope’s intended poem, and that, in more 
open defiance of the critics opinion, he determined to 
write it in blank verse, although he originally proposed 
to adopt the heroic measure in rhyme. I should have 
been happy to gratify the curiosity of my readers with 
his reasons for this determination; but they do not 
appear. 

Notwithstanding all that might have been expected 
from the genius, taste, and erudition of Sir William 
Jones, on a subject like this, I cannot, for my own part, 


513 


• SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

lament the application of his time and labour to other 
studies, calculated to instruct as well as to delight the 
public. We have far more reason to lament that he 
did not live to return to his native country through Per¬ 
sia, and that we have lost for ever that information which 
would have been supplied by his researches and obser¬ 
vations during the journey. The strength of a consti¬ 
tution never vigorous was unequal to the incessant exer¬ 
tion of his mental faculties; and, whilst we admire the 
boundless activity of his mind, we anticipate with sor¬ 
row its fatal effects upon his health. 

I have frequently remarked that it was the prevailing 
■wish of Sir William Jones to render his talents and at¬ 
tainments useful to his country. The tenor of his corres¬ 
pondence shews that his principal studies were directed 
to this object; and, near two years preceding the period 
at which I am arrived, he describes the mode whereby 
he proposes to give effect to his wishes, and expresses 
his determination to accomplish it, with an energy that 
marks his sense of the importance of the work he then 
meditated. 

Having now qualified himself, by his knowledge of 
the Sanscrit and Hindu laws, for the execution of his plan, 
he determined to delay it no longer: and as he could 
not prudently defray the expense of the undertaking from 
his own finances, he deemed it proper to apply to the 
government of Bengal for their assistance. The follow¬ 
ing letter, which he addressed to the governor-general, 
Lord Cornwallis, on this subject, contains all the ex¬ 
planations necessary. 

MY LORD, 

It has long been my wish to address the govern¬ 
ment of the British dominions in India on the adminis¬ 
tration of justice among the natives of Bengal and Bahar; 


314 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


a subject of equal importance to the appellate jurisdic¬ 
tion of the supreme court at Calcutta, where the judges 
are required by the legislature to decide controversies 
between Hindu and Mahommedan parties, according to 
their respective laws of contracts, and of succession to 
property; they had, I believe, so decided them, in most 
cases, before the statute to which I allude had passed; 
and the parliament only confirmed that mode of decision, 
which the obvious principles of justice had led them be¬ 
fore to adopt. Nothing indeed could be more obviously 
just, than to determine private contests according to 
those laws, which the parties themselves had ever con¬ 
sidered as the rules of their conduct and engagements 
in civil life; nor could any thing be wiser, than, by a 
legislative act to assure the Hindu and Mussulman sub¬ 
jects of Great Britain, that the private laws which they 
severally held sacred, and a violation of which they 
would have thought the most grievous oppression, 
should not be superseded by a new system, of which 
they could have no knowledge, and which they must 
have considered as imposed upon them by a spirit of 
rigour and intolerance. 

So far the principle of decision between the native 
parties in a cause appears perfectly clear; but the diffi¬ 
culty lies (as in most other cases) in the application of 
the principle to practice; for the Hindu and Mussulman 
laws are locked up for the most part in two very difficult 
languages, Sanscrit and Arabic, which few Europeans 
will ever learn, because neither of them leads to any 
advantage in worldly pursuits; and if we give judg¬ 
ment only from the opinions of the native lawyers and 
scholars, we can never be sure that we have not been 
deceived by them. 

It would be absurd and unjust to pass an indiscrimi¬ 
nate censure on so considerable a body of men; but my 


315 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

experience justifies mein declaring, that I could not 
with an easy conscience concur in a decision, merely 
on the written opinion of native lawyers, in any cause in 
which they could have the remotest interest in misleading 
the court; nor, how vigilant soever we might be, would 
it be very difficult for them to mislead us; for a single 
obscure text, explained by themselves, might be quoted 
as express authority, though perhaps, in the very book 
from which it was selected, it might be differently ex¬ 
plained, or introduced only for the purpose of being ex¬ 
ploded. The obvious remedy for this evil had occur¬ 
red to me before I left England, where I had communi¬ 
cated my sentiments to some friends in parliament, and 
on the bench in Westminster-Hall, of whose discern¬ 
ment I had the highest opinion; and those sentiments I 
propose to unfold in this letter, with as much brevity 
as the magnitude of the subject will admit. 

If we had a complete digest of Hindu and Mahom- 
medan laws, after the model of Justinian’s inestimable 
pandects, compiled by the most learned of the native 
lawyers, with an accurate verbal translation of it into 
English, and if copies of the work were deposited in the 
proper offices of the Sedr Divani Adaulat,* and of the 
supreme court, that they might occasionally be consult¬ 
ed as a standard of justice, we should rarely be at a loss 
for principles at least, and rules of law applicable to the 
cases before us, and should never perhaps be led astray 
by the pundits or maulavis, who would hardly venture 
to impose on us, when their imposition might so easily 
be detected. The great work, of which Justinian has 
the credit, consists of texts collected from law-books of 
approved authority, which in his time were extant at 
Rome, and those texts are digested according to a sci- 


The court of appeals in civil suits* 


316- 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


entifical analysis; the names of the original authors, and 
the titles of their several books being constantly cited,, 
with references even to the parts of their works from 
which the different passages were selected; but although 
it comprehends the whole system of jurisprudence, pub¬ 
lic, private, and criminal, yet that vast compilation was 
finished, we are told, in three years; it bears marks un¬ 
questionably of great precipitation, and of a desire to 
gratify the emperor by quickness of dispatch; but with 
all its imperfections, it is a most valuable mine of judi¬ 
cial knowledge, it gives law at this hour to the greatest 
part of Europe, and though few English lawyers dare 
make such an acknowledgment, it is the true source of 
nearly all our English laws, that are not of a feudal ori¬ 
gin. It would not be unworthy of a British govern¬ 
ment, to give the natives of these Indian provinces a 
permanent security for the clue administration of justice 
among them, similar to that which Justinian gave to his 
Greek and Roman subjects; but our compilation would 
require far less labour, and might be completed with 
far greater exactness in as short a time, since it would 
be confined to the law's of contracts and inheritances, 
which are of the most extensive use in private life, and 
to which the legislature has limited the decisions of the 
supreme court in causes between native parties; the la¬ 
bour of the work wmuid also be greatly diminished by 
two compilations already made in Sanscrit and Arabic, 
which approach nearly, in merit and in method, to the 
digest of Justinian: the first was composed a few' cen¬ 
turies ago by- a Brahman of this province, named Ifagb- 
nnanden , and is comprised in twenty^seven books at 
least, on every branch of Hindu law; the second, which 
the Arabs call the Indian decisions , is known here by the 
title of Fetaweb Aalemgiri , and was compiled by the 
order of Aurangzeb , in five large volumes, of which I 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. sir 

possess a perfect and well collated copy. To translate 
these immense works would be superfluous labour; but 
they will greatly facilitate the compilation of a digest on 
the laws of inheritance and contracts; and the code, as 
it is called, of Hindu law, which was compiled at the re¬ 
quest of Mr. Hastings, will be useful*for the same pur¬ 
pose, though it by no means obviates the difficulties be¬ 
fore stated, nor supersedes the necessity or the expedi¬ 
ence at least of a more ample repertory of Hindu laws, 
especially on the twelve different contracts, to which 
Ulpian has given specific names, and on all the others, 
which, though not specifically named, are reducible to 
four general heads. The last-mentioned work is entitled 
Vhadamewasetu , and consists, like the Roman digests, 
of authentic texts, with the names of their several au¬ 
thors regularly prefixed to them, and explained, where 
an explanation is requisite, in short notes taken from 
commentaries of high authority: it is, as far as it goes, 
a very excellent work; but though it appear extremely 
diffuse on subjects rather curious than useful, and 
though .the chapter on inheritances be copious and ex¬ 
act, yet the other important branch of jurisprudence, the 
law of contracts, is very succinctly and superficially dis¬ 
cussed, and bears an inconsiderable proportion to the 
rest of the work. Rut, vvhatever be the merit of the orL 
ginal, the translation of it has no authority, and is of no 
other use than to suggest enquiries on the many dark 
passages which we find in it: properly speaking, indeed, 
we cannot call it a translation; for though Mr. Halhed 
performed his part' with fidelity, yet the Persian inter¬ 
preter had supplied him only with a loose injudicious 
epitome of the original Sanscrit, in which abstract many 
essential passages are omitted; though several notes of 
little consequence are interpolated from a vain idea of 
elucidating or improving the text. All this I say with 


318 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


confidence, having already perused no small part of the 
original with a learned pundit, comparing it, as I pro¬ 
ceeded, with the English version. Having shown, there¬ 
fore, the expedience of a new compilation for each sys¬ 
tem of Indian law, I beg leave to state the difficulties 
which must attend the work, and to suggest the means 
of removing them. 

The difficulty which first presents itself, is the ex¬ 
pense of paying the pundits and maulavis who must 
compile the digest, and the native writers who must be 
employed to transcribe it. Since tw T o provinces are 
immediately under this government, in each of which 
there are many customary laws, it would be proper to 
employ one pundit of Bengal and another from Behar; 
and since there are two Mahommedan sects, who differ 
in regard to many traditions from their prophet, and 
to some decisions of their respective doctors, it might 
be thought equally proper to engage one maulavi of 
each sect; and this mode would have another advantage, 
since two lawyers conferring freely together on funda¬ 
mental principles, common to both, would assist, direct, 
and check each other.* 

Although I can have no personal interest, immediate 
or consequential, in the work proposed, yet I would 
cheerfully have borne the whole expense of it, if com¬ 
mon prudence had not restrained me, and if my private 
establishment of native readers and writers, which I 
cannot with convenience discontinue at present, did 
not require more than half of the monthly expense 
which the completion of a digest would, in my opinion, 
demand. I am under a necessity therefore of intimat¬ 
ing, that if the work be thought expedient, the charges 
of it should be defrayed by the government, and the 

* A passage relating to the remuneration of the natives to be employ¬ 
ed, is here omitted. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 319 

salaries paid by their officers. The second difficulty is, 
to find a director of the work and a translator of it, who, 
with a competent knowledge of the Sanscrit and Arabic, 
has a general acquaintance with the principles of juris¬ 
prudence, and a sufficient share even of legislative 
spirit, to arrange the plan of a digest superintend the 
compilation of it, and render the whole, as it proceeds, 
into perspicuous English; so that even the translation 
may acquire a degree of authority proportioned to the 
public opinion of his accuracy. Now, though I am 
truly conscious of possessing a very moderate portion 
of those talents, which I should require in the superin¬ 
tendence of such a work, yet I may without vanity pro¬ 
fess myself equal to the labour of it; and though I 
would much rather see the work well-conducted by any 
man than myself, yet I would rather give myself the 
trouble of it, than not live to see it conducted at all; 
and I cannot but know, that the qualifications, required, 
even in the low degree in w 7 hich I possess them, are 
not often found united in the same person, for a reason 
before suggested. If your lordship, therefore, after full 
consideration of the subject, shall be of opinion, that a 
digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws would be a 
w T ork of national honour and utility...! so cherish both, 
that I offer the nation my humble labour as far as I can 
dispose of my time consistently with the faithful dis¬ 
charge of my duty as a magistrate: should this offer 
be accepted, I should then request your lordship to 
nominate the pundits and maulavis, to whom I would 
severally give a plan conformable to the best analysis 
that I could make; and I should be able, if my health 
continued firm, to translate every morning, before any 
other business is begun, as much as they could com¬ 
pile, and the writers copy, in the preceding day. The 
Dhermasastra , or sacred code of the Hindus, consists 


320 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


of eighteen books; the first of which would, in any 
age or nation, be thought a wonderful performance; 
both the first and second have excellent commentaries 
of great authority, but the other sixteen are too <easy to 
need elucidation : the works of Menu, of Yagyawalcia , 
and most of the cithers are in blank verse, but that of 
Gautam is in modulated prose; besides these, the Hin¬ 
dus have many standard law-tracts, with their several 
commentaries, and among them a fine Treatise on In¬ 
heritances by Jemutavahan , to w hich our pundits often 
refer, though on that subject the work of Raghunanden 
seems to be more generally approved in this province. 
The Mussulmans, besides a few general rules in the 
Koran, and a number of traditional maxims delivered 
from their prophet, and his companions, through the 
sages of their law, together with the opinions of the 
celebrated lawyers preserved by their disciples, have 
two incomparable little tracts, one by Surajuddin , and 
the other by Alkuduri; the former on succession only, 
and the other on contracts, also with comments on each, 
and other comments on them, not to mention some 
other tracts of acknowledged authority, and large col¬ 
lections of decision in particular cases. All these books 
may, I suppose, be procured with ease; and some of 
the most rare among them are in my possession: mine 
I would lend with pleasure to the pundits and maulavis, 
if they happened to be unprovided with good copies of 
them, and my example would, I persuade myself, be 
followed on such an occasion by other collectors of 
Eastern manuscripts, both natives and Europeans. 
This is all that appears necessary to be written on this 
subject, with which I began this address to your lord- 
ship. I could not have expressed myself more concisely 
without some obscurity, and to have enlarged on the 


321 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

technical plan of the work which I have proposed, would 
have been superfluous. 

I have the honor to be, &c. 

Calcutta , March 19, 1788. William Jones. 

.sjg. .-go 

>Jv >7v 7f\ Tfc 

A proposal such as the letter of Sir William Jones 
contains could not fail of receiving that attention which 
it merited, from the nobleman who presided in the 
government of India. Fully sensible of the utility of a 
digest of Hindu and Mahommedan law, in facilitating 
what he was ever anxious to promote, “ the due admi- 
“ nistration of justice to the native subjects of the Bri- 
“ tish empire in Hindustan,” the Marquis Cornwallis 
considered the accomplishment of the plan as calculated 
to reflect the highest honour upon his administration. 
The answer to Sir William Jones, written by his direc¬ 
tion, expressed this sentiment with a declaration that 
his Lordship deemed it singularly fortunate that a per¬ 
son, so eminently qualified for the task, should, from 
principles of general benevolence and public spirit, be 
induced to engage in an undertaking, as arduous as it 
was beneficial. 

With this sanction, Sir William Jones immediately 
entered upon the execution of the work; and having 
selected, with the greatest care, from the most learned 
Hindus and Mahommedans, a sufficient number of per¬ 
sons duly qualified for the task of compilation, he traced 
the plan of the digest, prescribed its arrangement, and 
pointed out the manuscripts from which it was to be 
formed. 

From a series of letters addressed to the compiler of 
these memoirs, on the subject of the digest, a large 
selection might be made relating to it; but as they 
u u 


522 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

Cannot be interesting to my readers in general, I shall 
not interrupt the narrative by their introduction. 

At the period when this work was undertaken by Sir 
William Jones, he had not resided in India more than 
four years and a half; during which time, he had not 
only acquired a thorough knowledge of the Sanscrit 
language, but had extended his reading in it so far, as 
to be qualified to form a judgment upon the merit and 
authority of the authors to be used in the compilation 
of his work; and although his labour was only applied 
to the disposition of materials already formed, he was 
enabled by his previous studies to give them an arrange¬ 
ment superior to any existing, and which the learned 
natives themselves approved and admired. In the dis¬ 
pensations of Providence, it may be remarked, as an 
occurrence of no ordinary nature, that the professors of 
the Braminical faith should so far renounce their reserve 
and distrust as to submit to the direction of a native 
of Europe, for compiling a digest of their own laws. 

I now present the reader with the correspondence of 
Sir William Jones, during the remainder of 1788 and 
the following year, without interruption. 

The first letter refers to a subject discussed in a con¬ 
ference between the executive government of Bengal 
and the judges, respecting the police at Calcutta, which 
required great reformation. The establishment of the 
supreme court of judicature had superseded the former 
local jurisdictions at Fort-William, without making 
sufficient provisions for the police of the town; and the 
subject discussed at the conference was that of an ap¬ 
plication to the legislature of Great Britain for power 
to establish an efficient police. If the recollection of 
the writer of these memoirs does not deceive him, Sir 
William misunderstood the result of the conference, 
and, under this impression, addressed to him the fol- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


323 


lowing letter, which strongly marks his attachment to 
the constitution of his own country, and deserves, on 
this account, as well as for other opinions expressed on 
it, to be recorded. His suggestions were adopted in 
the application to parliament, and confirmed by its 
sanction. 


Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq . 

Feb . 7, 1788. 

I avail myself of an hour’s leisure, to throw upon 
paper, a few thoughts on the subject of our late con¬ 
ference, concerning an application to the legislature, 
for a power of summary conviction and punishment in 
Calcutta. 

The concurrence or dissent of an individual, who is 
not a member of an executive government, ought to 
have so little weight, that I would not have obtruded 
my opinion, if it had not been asked; but it would ill 
become me to concur in an application to parliament, 
for a power, the granting of which, if I were myself in 
parliament, I should hold it my duty to oppose. 

The difficulty, of which we all seemed sensible, arises 
from a supposed necessity of deviating from the spirit 
and form of English judicature in criminal cases; yet 
the English form has been approved by the wisdom of 
a thousand years, and has been found effectual in the 
great cities of England, for the good order and govern¬ 
ment of the most high-minded, active, and restless 
people that exists on earth. 

I could easily demonstrate, that the criminal code of 
our nation is fully sufficient to punish every temporal 
wrong, and redress every temporal evil, that can injure 
the public or individuals; and a British tribunal, for 
punishment of religious offences by Hindus or Mussul¬ 
mans, would not only be an inquisition of the most 


324 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


extraordinary kind, but would, I am persuaded, be 
offensive in the beginning, and oppressive in the end, 
to the natives of both religions. 

The question is then reduced to this: is it absolutely 
necessary to convict and punish offenders in Calcutta 
without a jury? if it be, we must follow the example 
of Solon, who enacted such laws as were, though not 
the best in themselves, yet the best that circumstances 
would admit. I am not convinced that such a neces¬ 
sity exists, and strongly incline to think it does not. The 
evil to be remedied is the small number of magistrates; 
the obvious remedy is to appoint a greater number. If 
the legislature therefore would give the governor in 
council a power to appoint from six to twelve justices 
of the peace, those justices would (under the direction 
of government) appoint subordinate peace-officers, whose 
legal powers are very considerable, yet accurately de¬ 
fined ; but a superintendant of the police is an officer 
unknown to our system, borrowed from a foreign sys¬ 
tem, or at least suggesting the idea of a foreign consti¬ 
tution, and his powers, being dark and undefined, are 
those which our law most abhors. The justices would 
hold a session every quarter of a year, without troubling 
the members of government who have other avocations; 
so that in every year there would be six sessions for 
administering criminal justice; but then comes the 
great question, how could the juries be supplied without 
injury to those who sit on them? Now, without urging 
that some occasional trouble, and perhaps loss, are the 
fine which Englishmen pay for their freedom; without 
intimating that, but a few years ago, an application to 
parliament was made, among other objects, for a trial 
by jury in all cases, even in Calcutta; without contend¬ 
ing, that if summary convictions be once made palata¬ 
ble, we shall gradually lose our relish for the admirable 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 325 

mode of trial, on which our common liberties at home 
almost wholly depend; without rambling a moment 
from the point before us, I conceive that three hundred 
persons, qualified to serve on petty juries, would be far 
more than sufficient to divide the trouble with conve¬ 
nience to themselves, and benefit to the community. 

On the wdiole, the annual burthen on each individual, 
especially if a kind of rotation were observed, or even 
if the chance of a ballot were taken, w T ould be too in¬ 
considerable to weigh a feather against the important 
object of supporting so excellent a mode of trial. 

After all, are we sure that the British subjects in Cal¬ 
cutta would be better pleased than myself with any slur 
upon the constitutional trial by jury? and as to the na¬ 
tives, besides the policy of allowing them all the bene¬ 
ficial effects of our judicature, (and that a trial by twelve 
men, instead of one, with a power of. exceptions, is a 
benefit, must be granted by all) I rather think that the 
inhabitants of a British town, owing local allegiance, are 
entitled to the local advantage of being tried by a British 
form. In all events, if it be a benefit, they ought not to 
be deprived of it without some greater public good to 
compensate the private injustice, than would result, I 
apprehend, from the power of summary conviction, if it 
were exercised by men, whose monthly gains would 
depend on the number of complaints made, and of fines 
levied. 

I am confident therefore, after mature deliberation, 
that nothing more is to be desired than a power in this 
government, of appointing justices of peace by annual 
commissions; and these being my sentiments, I rely on 
your friendship, so long and so constantly manifested, 
that if it should be thought proper to mention the con¬ 
currence of the judges, you will remember that their 
concurrence was not unanimous. 


326 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


I could easily have said all this, and more, but I chose 
this mode through delicacy, and fear of giving pain. 
Farewel, and as 1 esteem, so esteem, dear Sir, 

Your ever affectionate, &x. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq. 

Gardens , 1788. 

I thank you heartily, my dear Sir, for every part of 
your letter, and for your strings of Oriental gems, both 
for the Durr and the Shebeh ;* the pearls appear with 
more lustre by the side of the beads. 

Your quotations from the elegies of Washi are sweet¬ 
ly pathetic; but I will not detain your servant by more 
observations. Sacontala will hardly be finished before 
I go to my cottage; happy shall I be if your occupations 
allow you to pass a few days near it. Adieu. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq. 

Gardens , 1788. 

The verses are worthy of Catullus, and in his man¬ 
ner ; they would appear well in Hendccasyllables. I will 
think at some leisure moment of giving them a Persian 
dress according to your hints. I rejoice that you have 
it in your power to relieve your mind by poetical ima¬ 
gery; it is the true use of the fine arts. 

I have been reading cases for a judgment on Tues¬ 
day, from nine o’clock till past two....Farewel. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Patrick Russel. 

Chrishna-nagur , Sept. 24, 1788. 

I have acted like those libertines who defer repent¬ 
ance till the hour of death, and then find that they have 
not time to repent. Thus I deferred the pleasure of 


* Oriental expressions for firose and verse. 


82 7 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

answering letters till the vacation, but found the term 
and session so long, that I have scarce any vacation at 
all. I must therefore write very laconically, thanking 
you heartily for your kind letters, and very curious pa¬ 
pers in natural history, wishing that the public may soon 
gather the fruit of your learned labours. 

The business of the court this year has left me no 
leisure to examine flowers at Crishna-nagur. The sija 
is never in blossom when I am here; but though it has 
something of the form of the cactus , yet I imagine, from 
the milk of it, that it is an Euphorbia . 

With all my exertions I cannot procure any fresh 
spikenard; but I will not desist. I have two native 
physicians in my family, but they have only seen it in 
a dry state. 

I am very sorry to find that you are leaving us, as I 
have no chance of seeing Europe till the end of the 
eighteenth century. I wish you and your brother and 
his family a prosperous and speedy voyage. It is im¬ 
possible for me to write more than vive, vale I 

Sir William Jones to Thomas Caldicott , Esq. 

Sept . 24, 1788. 

We have had incessant labour for six hours a day, 
for three whole months, in the hot season between the 
tropics, and, what is a sad consequence of long sittings, 
we have scarcely any vacation. I can therefore only write 
to you a few lines this autumn. Before your brother 
sent me Lewsdon Hill, I had read it twice aloud to 
different companies, with great delight to myself and 
to them: thank the author in my name. I believe his 
nameless rivulet is called Bret or Brit (whence Brid- 
port) by Michael Drayton, who describes the fruitful 
Marsh wood. * * * * * 

Pray assure all who care for me, or whom I am likely 


328 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


to care for, that I never, directly or indirectly, asked for 
the succession to Sir E. Impey, and that if any indis¬ 
creet friend of mine has asked for it in my name, the 
request was not made by my desire, and never would 
have been made with my assent. 

u Co’ magnanimi pochi, a chi ’1 ben piace,” 

I have enough; but if I had not, I think an ambitious 
judge a very dishonourable and mischievous character. 
Besides, I never would have opposed Sir R. Chambers, 
who has been my friend twenty-five years, and wants 
money, which I do not. 

I have fixed on the year 1800 for my return towards 
Europe, if I live so long, and hope to begin the new 
century auspiciously among my friends in England. 

P. S. Since I wrote my letter I have amused myself 
with composing the annexed ode to Abundance.* It 
took up ten or twelve hours to compose and copy it; 
but I must now leave poetry, and return for ten months 
to J. N. and T. S. 

Sir William Jones to George Hardynge , Esq . 

MY DEAR FRIEND, Sept. 24, 1788. 

1 am the worst and you the best correspondent; 
and I make but a pitiful return for your two kind letters 
by assuring you that I find it impossible to answer them 
fully this season. My eyes were always weak, and the 
glare of an Indian sky has not strengthened them; the 
little day-light I can, therefore, spare from my public 
duties, I must allot to studies connected with them, I 
mean the systems of Indian jurisprudence, and the two 
abstruse languages in which the Hindu and Mussulman 
laws are written. 

Anna Maria is pretty well, and I am consequently hap- 


* Works, vol. vi, page 355. 


529 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

py: my own health is firm, and, excepting the state of 
hers, I have all the happiness a mortal ought to have. 

Sir William Jones to William Shipley, Esq . 

Sept. 27, 1788. 

* * * * * a * * * 

* M y own health, by God’s blessing, is 
firm, but my eyes are weak, and I am so intent upon 
seeing the digest of Indian laws completed, that I de¬ 
vote my leisure almost entirely to that object; the na¬ 
tives are much pleased with the work; but it is only a 
preliminary to the security which I hope to see esta¬ 
blished among our Asiatic subjects. 

The business of our society is rather an amusement 
than a labour to me: they have as yet published nothing; 
but have materials for two quarto volumes, and will, I 
hope, send one to Europe next spring. I lament the 
sad effects of party, or rather faction, in your Maidstone 
society ; but hope (to use a word of Dr. Johnson) that if 
will redintegrate. Many thanks for the transactions ot 
your London society, which I have lent to a very learn¬ 
ed and ingenious friend, who is much pleased with 
them. 

Sir W. Jones to J. Burnett , Lord Montboddo . 

Sept. 24, 1788. 

The questions concerning India, which you do me 
the honor to think me capable of answering, require a 
longer answer than the variety of my present occupations 
allow me write. Suffer me, therefore, to enclose a dis¬ 
course not yet published, which«may give you some 
satisfaction on Indian literature, and to refer you to the 
first volume of the Transactions of our society, which 
will, I hope, be sent next season to Europe. As my 
principal object is the jurisprudence, I have not yetex- 

x x 


330 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


amined the philosophy of the Brahmans; but I have seen 
enough of it to be convinced that the doctrines of the 
Vidanti school are Platonic. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore Esq . 

Jan . 26, 1789. 

Let me trouble you, as you see colonel Kyd oftener 
than I do, to give him Sir George Young’s botanical 
letter, which I annex. I have requested colonel Martin 
to send Sir George all the seeds which he can collect, 
and will co-operate (as far as my occupations will allow) 
in the plan of transferring to the West Indies the spicy 
forests of Asia: but I have little time at command, and, 
holding every engagement sacred, I must devote my 
leisure to the system of Asiatic jurisprudence, which I 
will see established before I see Europe. It will pro¬ 
perly follow your wise and humane design of giving se¬ 
curity to the property of the natives. When you have 
had a copy taken of the Persian Hermit,^ I shall be glad 
to borrow it, that my munshi may transcribe it. Could 
you not find some leisure hour to explain an episode of 
Homer to Serajelhak, that he might try his hand with it? 

Sir William Jones to J . Shore , Esq . 

1789. 

Flemingf still keeps me a prisoner, and forbids my 
reading aloud, which used to be my chief amusement 
in the evening. I trust you will soon be well, and that 
we shall ere long meet. If the man you mention be 
guilty, I hope he will be punished; I hate favouritism; 

* I explained to Serajelhak, the person mentioned by Sir William 
Jones, Parnel’s Hermit, and he composed a Persian poem on the same 
subject. As it has been frequently transcribed, it might, perhaps, with¬ 
out this explanation, at some future time be considered the original of 
Parnel’s poem, 
f His physician. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 331 

and if I had the dominions of Chingis Khan, I would 
not have one favourite. 

* * * * * * 

The poem of Washi has greatly delighted me; it al¬ 
most equals Metastasio’s, on a similar subject, and far 
surpasses other Wasukts* which I have seen; yet the 
beautiful simplicity of the old Arabs, in their short ele¬ 
gies, appears unrivalled by any thing in Persian. I 
transcribe one of them, which I have just read in the 
Hamasa: f 

Cease, fruitless tears! afflicted bosom, rest! 

My tears obey, but not my wounded breast. 

Ah, no ! this heart, despairing and forlorn, 

Till time itself shall end, must bleed and mourn. 

Sir William Jones to Mr. Justice Hyde. 

June 5, 1789. 

Though I do not wish to give you the pain of sym¬ 
pathizing (as I know you will sympathize) with me in 
my present distress, yet as you possibly know it, and as 
you might think me unusually dejected when we meet, 
I cannot forbear writing to you; especially as I feel a 
kind of relief in venting my sorrow to an approved 
friend. One or two English papers mention the death 
of Lady Jones’s father, in such a manner, as to leave me 
no hope of its being a mistake; this I have known since 
the 15th of May, but, as it may possibly be untrue, I 
could not in any degree prepare her for the dreadful in¬ 
telligence. I have therefore taken effectual measures to 
keep it secret from her, but it is a secret which cannot 
long be kept; and the bare idea of the pang which she 
too soon must feel, and the probable effects of that pang 

* fVasukt , the appellation of an amatory elegy, descriptive of the va¬ 
rious sensations and passions excited by love, 
t The original is omitted. 


332 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


on her delicate constitution, now particularly enervated 
by the hot season, give me a degree of anguish, which 
I never before felt. Mrs. Shore has kindly promised to 
take care that all her letters by the Indiamen shall be 
sent in a sealed packet to me, that I may select for her 
first perusal the letter from her wisest friend, the dow¬ 
ager Lady Spencer, whose hand-writing I cannot mis¬ 
take. I wish I could suppress them all, but that is im¬ 
possible. The pain of losing our parents, time, and 
time only, will mitigate; but my dread is, that the first 
shock will have some terrible effect on her health, and 
this fear haunts me night and day. That your letters 
may contain the most comfortable news, and that I may 
see you on Wednesday in perfect health, is the hearty 
wish of, my dear Sir, 

Your faithful and affectionate, 

William Jones. 

Sir IViUiam Jones to J. Shore , Esq . 

June 9, 1739. 

* V : f # * 

I am glad Jayadeva* pleases you, and thank you 
for the sublime period of Hooker; of which I had only 
\before seen the first pak. His idea of heavenly and 
eternal law is just and noble; and human law, as derived 
from it, must partake of the praise, as far as it is per¬ 
fectly administered; but corruptio optimi Jit pessima , 
and if the administration of law should ever be cor¬ 
rupted, some future philosopher or orator will thus 
exhibit the reverse of the medal. 

“ Of law there can be no more acknowledged, than 
“ that her seat is the storehouse of quirks, her voice the 

% 

* Gitagovinda, or the songs of Jayadeva. Works, vol. i. p. 463 . 


333 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

“ dissonance of brawls; all her followers, indeed, both 
ic at the bar and below it, pay her homage; the very 
“ least as gaining their share, and the greatest as hoping 
“ for wealth and fame; but kings, nobles, and people 
“ of what condition soever, though each in different 
“ sort and manner, yet all have uniformly found their 
“ patience exhausted by her delays, and their purse by 
“ her boundless demands.”* 

* * The parody was so 

obvious, that I could not refrain from shewing you the 
wrong side of the tapestry, with the same figures and 
flowers, but all maimed and discoloured. 

Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq . 

1789. 

We have finished the twentieth and last book of 
Guicciardini’s History, the most authentic, I believe, 
(may I add, I fear) that ever was composed. I believe 
it, because the historian w r as an actor in his terrible 
drama, and personally knew the principal performers 
in it; and I fear it, because it exhibits the woful 
picture of society in the 15th and 16th centuries. If 
you can spare Reid, w*e are now ready for him, and will 
restore his two volumes on our return from Chrishna- 
nagur. 

When w^e meet I will give you an account of my 
progress in detecting a most impudent fraud, in forging 

* The reader will thank me for giving him an opportunity of 
perusing the passage, at the close of the first book of the Ecclesiastical 
Polity, which Sir William Jones has parodied. 

“ Of law, there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the 
“ bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world: all things in 
“ Heaven and Earth do her homage ; the very least as feeling her care, 
“ and the greatest as net exempted from her power ; both angels and 
“ men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different 
“ sort and manner, yet all, with uniform consent, admiring her as the 
“ mother of their peace and joy.” 


334 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFfe OF 


a Sanscrit book on oaths, by Hindus, since I saw you. 
The book has been brought to me, on a few yellow 
Bengal leaves, apparently modern. The Brahman, who 
brought it from Sambhu Chaudra Rai, said it was 
twelve years old; I believe it had not been written 
twelve days. He said the original work of Mahadeva 
himself, from which the prohibition of swearing by the 
water of the Ganges was extracted, was at Chrishna- 
nagur. I desired him to tell Sambhu Chaudra, who 
wants me to admit him a suitor, in forma pauperis, 
without taking his oath , that unless he brought me the 
original, and that apparently ancient, I should be con¬ 
vinced that he meant to impose upon me. 

Sir William Jones to Mr. Justice Hyde. 

Sept. 19, 1789. 

You have given Lady Jones great pleasure, by in¬ 
forming us, from so good authority, that a ship is arrived 
from England; she presents you with her best compli¬ 
ments. 

Most readily shall I acquiesce in any alleviation of 
Horrehow’s* misery, that you and Sir Robert Cham¬ 
bers shall think just and legal. I have not one law 
book with me, nor, if 1 had many, should I perfectly 
know where to look for a mitigation by the court of 
a sentence, which they pronounced after full consi¬ 
deration of all its probable effects on the person cpn- 
demned. I much doubt, whether it can legally be 
done; nor do I think the petition states, any urgent 
reason for it. First he mentions losses already sustained , 

* This man, a foreigner, commanding a vessel trading to Bengal, 
was convicted, before the supreme court of judicature, of purchasing the 
children of natives, for the purpose of carrying them out of the country, 
and selling them as slaves. It was the first instance of an attempt of 
this kind ; he was prosecuted by order of the government of Bengal, and 
since the punishment inflicted upon Horrebow, the attempt has not been 
repeated. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 335 

(not therefore to be prevented by his enlargement) and, 
in my opinion, they cannot easily be more than he de¬ 
serves. Next, his wife’s health may have been injured 
by his disgrace, and may not be restored by our shorten¬ 
ing the time of his confinement, which, if I remember, 
is almost half expired, and was as short as justice tem¬ 
pered with lenity would allow. His own health is not 
said to be affected by the imprisonment in such a place, 
at such a season ; for if it were proved that he were 
dangerously ill, we might, I suppose, remove him to a 
healthier place, or even let him go to sea, if able 
surgeons swore that, in their serious opinion, nothing 
else could save his life. That is by no means the case, 
and I confess, I have no compassion for him ; my com¬ 
passion is for the enslaved children and their parents. 
Nevertheless I know the benevolence of your heart, 
and shall approve whatever you and Sir R. C. may do, 
if any precedent can be found or recollected of a power 
in the court to do what is now prayed. 

I am, &c. 

Prince Adam Czartoryski to Sir William Jones. 

Sept. 20, 1788. 

It is but a fortnight ago since the gentleman, to 
whom the most flattering proof of your kind remem¬ 
brance was committed, delivered it into my hand. I 
received it with a joined sentiment of gratitude and of 
vanity. It will be an easy task for you to find out why 
I am grateful, and every body, but yourself, will soon 
hit upon the reasons, why your having thought of me 
makes me vain. 

The letter, the idea of the man who wrote it, the 
place from whence it came, the language of Hafez, all 
that put together, set my imagination at once in a blaze, 
and wafted me over in a wish from the Pole to the 


336 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Indies. It has awaked a train of ideas, which lay 
dormant for a while, and rekindled my somewhat-for¬ 
gotten heat for the Oriental muses, which is not how¬ 
ever to be put on the account of inconstancy, but to 
my having been crossed in my love for them, very near 
as much as Sir Roger de Coverly is said to have been, 
in his addresses to his unkind widow. The war, broke 
out of late, deprived me of my last resource, which was 
a dervish native of Samercand, who was just come to 
live with me in the capacity of munshi. His religious zeal 
would not al'OW him to continue out of sight of the 
Sangiale Sheriff , so he hastened back to his brethren. 
After the reception of your letter I grieved still more in 
seeing myself deprived of proper and easy means to 
cultivate so interesting a branch of learning, and could 
not forbear casting an impatient reflection on that war¬ 
like spirit, whose influence leaves nothing happy, nothing 
undisturbed. The acquisition of a language will always 
appear to me much more valuable than that of a desert. 
The sudden departure of my dervish has, I find, soured 
my temper against conquest and conquerors. I wished 
it was in my power to sweeten it again by the charms 
of your intercourse, under the benign influence of the 
climate you inhabit. How happy should I think myself 
in the enjoyment of your leisure hours, in perusing a 
country where every object is worth dwelling upon, in 
paying a visit to the Rajah of Kisnagoor, with a letter 
of recommendation from your hand! But, whilst, with 
a heated fancy, l am expatiating on those delightful 
subjects, I find myself in reality circling in a round of 
things as little suiting with my inclination, as the 
roughness of the heaven does with my constitution ; 
for quid frigorc sarmaiico pejus? which becomes still 
more intolerable, if you add to it the in art to et inglorius 
labor , to which we are unfortunately doomed. I can- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 337 

not conclude this letter without repeating to you the 
warmest acknowledgment of your kind remembrance. 
I shall be certain to preserve it for ever, if the highest 
degree of esteem for your eminent qualities and talents, 
and the most sincere regard for your person, are suffi¬ 
cient to ensure it. 

I am invariably, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Sir Joseph Banks. 

DEAR SIR JOSEPH, Sept. 17, 1789. 

The season for paying my annual epistolary rents 
being returned with the rough gales of the autumnal 
equinox, I am eager to offer my tribute, w r here it is 
most due, to my best landlord, who, instead of claim¬ 
ing, like the India company, sixteen shillings in the 
pound for the neat profits of my farm (I speak correctly, 
though metaphorically) voluntarily offers me indul¬ 
gences, even if run in arrears. 

You have received, I trust, the pods of the finest 
Dacca cotton, with which the commercial resident at 
that station supplied me, and which I sent by different 
conveyances, some inclosed to yourself, some to Sir 
George Young, and some by private hands. But I 
have always found it safer to send letters and small 
parcels by the public packet, than by careless and in¬ 
considerate individuals. I am not partial to the pryangu, 
which I now find is its true name; but Mr. Shore found 
benefit from it, and procured the fresh plants from Ar- 
racan, which died, unluckily, in their way to Calcutta. 
But seriously it deserves a longer trial before its tonic 
virtues, if it have any, can be ascertained. It is cer¬ 
tainly not so fine a bitter as camomile or columbo 
root. 

I wish politics at the devil, but hope that, when the 
king recovered, science revived. It gives me great 

y y 


338 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

pain to know, that party, as it is called (I call it faction r 
because I hold party to be grounded on principle, and 
faction on self-interest, which excludes all principle), 
has found its way into a literary club, who meet reci¬ 
procally to impart and receive new ideas. I have deep- 
rooted political principles, which the law taught me; 
but I should never think of introducing them among 
men of science, and if, on my return to Europe ten or 
twelve years hence, I should not find more science than 
politics in the club, my seat in it will be at the service 
of any politician who may wish to be one of the party. 

An intimate friend of Mr. Blane has written to him, 
at my request, for the newly-discovered fragrant grass; 
and should the plants be sent before the last ships of 
the season sail, they shall be sent to you. Whether 
they be the nard of the ancients, I must doubt, because 
we have sweet grasses here of innumerable Species; 
and Reuben Burrow brought me an odoriferous grass 
from the place where the Ganges enters India, and 
where it covers whole acres, and perfumes the whole 
country. From his account of it I suspect it to be Mr. 
Blane’s; but I could make nothing of the dry speci¬ 
mens, except that they differed widely from the Jata- 
mansi , which I am persuaded is the Indian nard of 
Ptolemy. I can only procure the dry Jatamansi; but 
if I can get the stalks, roots, and flowers from Butan, I 
will send them to you. Since the death of Koenig, we 
are in great tvant of a professed botanist. I have twice 
read with rapture the Philosophia Botanica , and have 
Murray’s edition of the genera et species plantarum 
always with me, but, as I am no lynx, like Linmeus, 
I cannot examine minute blossoms, especially those of 
grasses. 

We are far advanced in the second volume of our 
Transactions. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


339 


Sir William Jones to John Wilmot , Esq. 

Sept. 20, 1739. 

Every sentence in your letter gave me great plea¬ 
sure, and particularly the pleasing and just account of 
your truly venerable father. Lady Jones, after the first 
pang for the loss of her’s, resigned herself with true 
piety to the will of God. She is very weak, and always 
ill during the heats. I have been, ever since my sea¬ 
soning, as they call it, perfectly well, notwithstanding 
incessant business seven hours in a day, for four or five 
months in a year, and unremitted application during 
the vacations, to a vast and interesting study, a com - 
plete knowledge of India , which I can only attain in the 
country itself, and I do not mean to stay in the country 
longer than the last year of the eighteenth century. I 
rejoice that the king is well, but take no interest in the 
contests of your aristocratical factions. The time never 
was, when I would have enlisted under the banners of 
any faction, though I might have carried a pair of co¬ 
lours, if I had not spurned them, in either legion. My 
^ party is that of the whole people, and my principles, 
which the law taught me, are only to be changed by a 
change of existence. 

Sir William Jones to Mr. Justice Hyde. 

Oct. 20, 1789. 

Though I hope, my dear Sir, to be with you 
almost as soon as this letter, yet I write it because it is 
the last that I shall write to any one for the next eleven 
months, and I feel so light, after the completion of my 
severe epistolary task, that I am disposed to play a 
voluntary. I have answered fifty very long letters from 
Europe, and a multitude of short ones; among the rest, 
I had one from the Chief Baron, who desires his re- 


340 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


membrance to you by the title of his old and worthy 
friend. Another from Master Wilmot informs me, 
that his father, Sir Eardley, had nearly ended his 
eightieth year, with as good health, and as clear in¬ 
tellects, as he ever had in the prime of life. When I 
express a hope of seeing you in two or three days, it is 
only a hope; for I shall affront the Mandarin at Chin- 
sura,* if I do not make my annual visit to him ; now 
I can only visit him at night, and the wind and tide may 
delay me, ^isthey did last year. In all events I shall be 
with you, if I live, before the end of the week, as I am 
preparing to go on board my pinnace. Besides my 
annuities of Europe letters, which I pay at this season, 
I have been winding up all the odds and ends of all my 
private or literary concerns, and shall think of nothing 
for eleven months to come but law, European or 
Indian. I have written four papers for our expiring 
society, on very curious subjects, and have prepared 
materials for a discourse on the Chinese: the society 
is a puny, rickety child, and must be fed with pap; nor 
shall it die by my fault; but die it must, for I cannot 
alone support it. In my youthful days I was always 
ready to join in a dance or a concert, but I could never 
bring myself to dance a solitary hornpipe, or to play a 
solo. When I see Titsingh (who, by the way, will 
never write any thing for us, as long as his own Bata¬ 
vian society subsists) I will procure full information 
concerning the pincushion rice, and will report it to 
you. Lady Jones is as usual, and sends her best re¬ 
membrance. I too am as usual, and as ever, dear Sir, 
your faithful, &c. 

William Jones. 

• Mr. Titsingh, governor of Chinsura. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


341 


Sir William Jones to J. Shore , Esq. 

Oct. 20, 1789. 

Your approbation of Sacontala gives at least as 
much pleasure to the translator as you had from the 
perusal of it, and would encourage me to translate more 
dramas, if I were not resolved to devote all my time 
to law, European and Indian. 

The idea of your happiness, (and few men have a 
brighter prospect of it than yourself) reconciles me to 
our approaching separation, though it must be very 
long; for I will not see England, while the interested 
factions which distract it leave the legislature no time 
for the great operations which are essential for public 
felicity, while patriotic virtues are derided as visionary, 
and while the rancour of contending parties fills with 
thorns those particular societies, in which I hoped to 
gather nothing but roses. I am sorry (for the meta¬ 
phor brings to my mind th eBostani Kheiyal*) that the 
garden of fancy should have as many weeds as that of 
politics. Surajelhak pronounced it, with emphasis, a 
wonderful work; and a young Mussulman assured me 
that it comprised all the finest inventions of India and 
Persia. The work will probably mend as it proceeds. 

We must spare ourselves the pain of taking a formal 
leave; so farewel. May you live happy in a free 
country ! 

I am, Sec. 


# * * * % * 

The affectionate wish which concludes these extracts 
from the correspondence of Sir William Jones was 

* The Garden of Fancy; the title of an Eastern romance in 
Persian, in sixteen quarto volumes. 


342 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


dictated by the circumstance of my departure from 
India: it has been verified; and the recollection of the 
place which I held in his esteem, however accom¬ 
panied with regret for his death, is an additional source 
of that happiness which he wished me to enjoy. 

Among other literary occupations in which he em¬ 
ployed himself during the two last years, it is to be 
noticed, that he undertook the office of editor of the 
elegant poem of Hatefi, on the unfortunate loves of 
Laili and Mujnoon, an Arabian youth and princess. 
The benevolent object of his labors renders them in¬ 
teresting, as the book was published at his own ex¬ 
pense, with a declared appropriation of the produce of 
the sale to the relief of insolvent debtors in the goal at 
Calcutta. 

In the English preface to the Persian work, he has 
given a translation of five distichs in the measure of 
the original, and has shown that a bare transposition of 
the accents gives five English couplets in the form 
which some call heroic, and others elegiac. As a me¬ 
trical curiosity, 1 first transcribe the lines in the 
measure of the original, with the transposed version of 
the couplets in the English form: 

With cheeks where eternal paradise bloom’d, 

Sweet Laili the soul of Kais had consum’d. 

Transported, her heavenly graces he view’d: 

Of slumber no more he thought, nor of food. 

Love rais’d in their glowing bosoms his throne, 

Adopting the chosen pair as his own. 

-/Together on flowery seats they repos’d: 
v Their lips not one idle moment were clos’d. 

To mortals they gave no hint of their smart: 

Love only the secret drew from each heart. 

TRANSPOSITION. 

With cheeks, where eternal paradise bloom’d, 

Sweet Laili had the soul of Kais consum’d. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


343 


Her heavenly graces he transported view’d: 

No more he thought of slumber, nor of food. 

Love in their glowing bosoms rais’d his throne, 

The chosen pair adopting as his own. 

On flowery seats together they repos’d: 

Their lips one idle moment were not clos’d. 

No hint they gave to mortals of their smart: 

Love only drew the secret from each heart. 

It has already been mentioned that, in the earliest 
periods of his education, Sir William Jones had ap¬ 
plied himself with uncommon assiduity to the study of 
prosody, and, as he advanced in the acquisition of new 
dialects, he continued to cultivate a knowledge of the 
laws of metre, which he found of the greatest utility, in 
ascertaining the text of Oriental authors. In the 
collection of his works, we read a translation of the 
first Nemean ode of Pindar, as nearly as possible in the 
same measure as the original; and, amongst other com¬ 
positions of the same kind, not intended for publication, 
I find a translation of an ode of Sappho, word for word 
from the original, and syllable for syllable, in the same 
measure, by the truest rules of English quantity. 

In the beginning of 1789, the first volume of the Re¬ 
searches of the society was published. The selection 
of the papers was left to the judgment of Sir William 
Jones, and he undertook the laborious and unpleasant 
office of superintending the printing. A third part of 
the volume, the most interesting as well as instructive, 
is occupied by the contributions of the president. 

Having passed half of my life in India, I may be per¬ 
mitted to avail myself of the opportunity afforded by this 
publication to vindicate my fellow-labourers in the East, 
from one reproach, amongst many, undeservedly be¬ 
stowed upon them. A disinclination to explore the 
literature and antiquities of Hindustan has been urged 
as the natural consequence of that immoderate pursuit 
of riches which was supposed to be the sole object of 


344 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


the servants of the East-India company, and to engross 
their whole attention. The difficulty attending the ac¬ 
quisition of new idioms, the obstacles opposed by the 
fears, prejudices, and the reserve of the natives, the con¬ 
stant occupations of official duty, and the injurious ef¬ 
fect of sedentary application in a tropical climate upon 
the constitution, were unnoticed or disregarded; and no 
allowances made for impediments, which time and per¬ 
severance could alone surmount. 

The reproach was unmerited; and, long before the 
arrival of Sir William Jones in India, the talents of se¬ 
veral persons there had been applied with considera¬ 
ble success, not only to investigations, by which the 
public interests were essentially assisted, but to those 
scientific researches which he more effectually pro¬ 
moted. The art of printing had been introduced into 
Bengal, by the untaught skill of Mr. Wilkins, and had 
advanced to great perfection; and many publications, 
equally useful and interesting, issued from the press 
which he had established. 

The genius, example, and direction of Sir William 
Jones anticipated what time might, perhaps, have ef¬ 
fected, but with slower progress. With advantages 
which no European in India possessed, he employed the 
ascendency derived from his superior learning, know¬ 
ledge, and abilities, to form an institution for promoting 
and preserving the literary labours of his countrymen; 
and while he exhibited himself an example for imitation, 
and pointed out, in his discourses, those extensive in¬ 
vestigations which he only was capable of conceiving, 
his conduct was adapted to encourage and invite all who 
possessed talents and knowledge to contribute to the 
success of the institution. The establishment of the 
society, which does no less honour to him than to the 
character of our countrymen in Asia, may hereafter 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


345 


form an important article in the general history of arts 
and sciences; and, if the future labours of the members 
should be continued with the same zeal, the obligations 
of the public will be proportionably encreased.* In the 
twenty years which have elapsed, since this establish¬ 
ment was formed, more accurate information on the 
history and antiquities, on the arts, sciences, and litera¬ 
ture of India, has been given to the world, than‘ ever 
before appeared; and without disparaging the labours of 
other investigators, and the merit of antecedent publi¬ 
cations, the volumes of the Asiatic Researches will ever 
remain an honourable testimony of the zeal and abilities 
of the British residents in Hindustan.t 

A copy of this work was transmitted by Sir William 
Jones to the right honourable Henry Dundas, w r ith a 
letter intimating a wish that the king would honour the 

* Three volumes of the Asiatic Researches were published before 
the death of Sir William Jones ; a fourth was ready for the press, at the 
time of his demise, in April, 1794, and a fifth and sixth volume have 
since been received in England. 

t I cannot omit this opportunity of paying a tribute to the enlightened 
views and enlarged policy of Marquis Wellesley, governor-general of 
India, in founding a college at Fort William, in Bengal, for the instruc¬ 
tion of the servants of the East India Company, in every branch of 
useful knowledge: The plan of the institution may, perhaps, have been 
more extensive than was absolutely necessary for this purpose, but 
against the principle of .it no solid objection could be urged. The 
functions assigned to the servants of the East India Company are of 
great magnitude, variety, and importance ; and to discharge them pro¬ 
perly requires the education of a statesman and legislator, and a 
thorough knowledge of the dialects in use in Hindustan. To enable the 
servants of the company to acquire the necessary qualifications for the 
due discharge of these important duties was the grand object of the 
institution, which, at the same time, comprehended the religious in¬ 
struction and the superintendence of the morals andhabits of the pupils. 
Considered in a secondary and subordinate point of view, it was calcu ¬ 
lated to promote the objects proposed in the formation of the Asiatic 
society. A volume of essays by the students in the college has been 
published, which does equal honour to them and to the institution. 


z z 


346 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


society by his acceptance of it; with which his majesty 
graciously complied.* 

In the same year Sir William presented to the 
public a translation of an ancient Indian drama, under 
the title of Sacontala, or the Fatal Ring , exhibiting a 
most pleasing and authentic picture of old Hindu 
manners, and one of the greatest curiosities that the 
literature of Asia had yet brought to light. Calidas, 
the author of it, whom Sir William Jones calls the 
Shakspeare of India, lived in the first century before 
Christ, not many years after Terence, and he wrote 
se veral other dramas and poetical pieces, of which only 
Sacontala has received an European dress. The viola¬ 
tion of the unities, as well as the mixture of foreign 
mythology, which constitutes the machinery of the 
play, are irreconcileable with the purer taste which 
marks the dramatic compositions of Europe: but, 
although the translator declined offering a criticism on 
the characters and conduct of the play, “ from a con- 
“ viction that the tastes of men differ as much as the 
“ sentiments and passions, and that, in feeling the 
“ beauties of art as in smelling flowers, tasting fruits, 
“ viewing prospects, and hearing melody, every indi- 

* The acceptance of the volume by the king was announced by the 
following letter: 

Lord Grenville to the Right Honourable H. Dundas. 

Sir, Whitehall , Feb . 22, 1T90. 

Having laid before the king Sir William Jones's letter to you, I am 
directed by his majesty to signify his gracious acceptance of the volume 
transmitted by you ; and, at the same time, to express his majesty’s 
satisfaction in the progress of the sciences in the British establishment 
in India, and his approbation of the important undertaking in which Sir 
William Jones is engaged. 

I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient humble servant, 

W. W. Grenville. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


347 


%x vidual must be guided by his own sensations and the 
“ incommunicable associations of his own ideas,” we 
may venture to pronounce that, exclusive of the wild, 
picturesque, and sublime imagery which characterizes 
it, the simplicity of the dialogue in many of the scenes, 
and the natural characters of many of the personages 
introduced, cannot fail of exciting pleasure and interest 
in the reader, who will wish with me, perhaps, that Sir 
William Jones had not rigidly adhered to the determi¬ 
nation which he expressed, not to employ his leisure in 
translating more of the works of Calidas. 

In December, 1789, the author of these memoirs was 
compelled, by the reiterated attacks of severe indisposi¬ 
tion, to leave »India. For an account of the occupations 
of Sir William Jones, from that period to his return, I 
refer to his correspondence, beginning with a letter 
from Count Reviczki;* the reader will see, with plea¬ 
sure, that the mutual regard' professed by the two 
friends had suffered no abatement from time or separa¬ 
tion. 

London , June 30, 1789. 

By the Vestal frigate, which was to convey Lord 
Cathcart to China, I wrote an answer to your elegant 
Persian letter, which I received through Mr. Elmsley. 
It was a most agreeable proof to me, that I was still 
honoured with a place in your remembrance, notwith¬ 
standing the distance which separates us. I have 
since learned that colonel Cathcart died on the voyage, 
and as the Vestal, in consequence of this event, re¬ 
turned to England, I am not without apprehension that 
my letter never reached you. I have since received a 
most superb work printed at Calcutta, and which would 
do honor to the first printing-office in Europe, accom- 

* Appendix, No. 38. 


348 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

panied with an elegant and obliging letter. I recognized 
in it the hand of a skilful penman, if I may be allowed 
to judge; for I have so long neglected the cultivation of 
Oriental literature, that I am almost as much a stranger 
to it as if I had never learned it. I have never yet seen 
so elegant a specimen of Oriental typography as that 
in the Persian poem with which you favoured me. 

I cannot express how much I regret the loss of your 
society during my residence in London, which would 
have afforded me so much gratification; and I doubt 
if I shall have an opportunity of enjoying it after your 
return, as I must soon enter upon the new office con¬ 
ferred upon me by the emperor, of minister at Naples. 
But whatever my destination may be, of this you may 
be assured, that neither absence nor distance will ever 
weaken my attachment to you, and that during life I 
shall consider myself equally bound by gratitude and 
inclination to preserve it. I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient humble servant, 

Count Reviczki. 

Sir William Jones to Dr. Price . 
my dear sir, Chrishna-nagur , Sep . 14, 1790. 

I give you my warmest thanks for your friendly 
letter, and acceptable present of an admirable discourse, 
which I have read with great delight. 

* * t We have twenty millions 

(I speak with good information) of Indian subjects, 
whose laws I am now compiling and arranging, in the 
hope of securing their property to themselves and their 
heirs. They are pleased with the work ; but it makes 
me a very bad correspondent. I had flattered myself 
with a hope of making a visit to our venerable friend 
at Philadelphia, before the retreat which I meditate to 


349 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

my humble cottage in Middlesex; but God’s will be 
done. We shall meet, I devoutly hope, in a happier 
state. 

To the Rev. Dr. Ford , 

Principal of Magdalen Hall , Oxford. 

Crishna-nagur , Oct. 11, 1790. 

Though I am for the best of reasons the worst of 
correspondents, yet I will no longer delay to thank you 
for your friendly letter of the fourth of February, and 
for your kind attentions to colonel Polier. You have a 
much better correspondent in Mr. Langlas, whose 
patriotism, I hope, will succeed, and whose Persian 
literature will be a source of delight to him, if not to 
the public. Mr. Wehl’s favour never reached me, or 
I would have answered it immediately, and I request 
you to infoi m him of my disappointment. The chances 
are about three to one against your receiving this ; and 
the fear of writing for the sport of winds and waves 
disheartens me whenever I take up a pen. 

Sir William Jones to William Shipley , Esq. 
dear sir, Crishna-nagur , Oct. 11, 1790. 

The ships which brought your kind letters arrived 
so near the end of my short vacation, that I have but 
just time to thank you for them, as I do most heartily,, 
as well as for your acceptable presents. Anna Maria 
has recovered from the pang which the sad intelligence 
from England gave her, and a pious resignation has suc¬ 
ceeded to her natural anguish. You are, I hope, quite 
recovered from your illness, and again promoting the 
welfare and convenience of mankind, by your judicious 
exertions and ingenious inventions, to which all possible 
attention shall be shown in this country. May you very 
long enjoy the pleasure of doing good, which is, I well 


350 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


know, the only reward you seek. It is now settled 
here, that the natives are proprietors of their land, and 
that it shall descend by their own laws. I am engaged 
in superintending a complete system of Indian laws; 
but the work is vast, difficult, and delicate; it occupies 
all my leisure, and makes me the worst of correspond¬ 
ents. I trust, however, that long letters are not neces¬ 
sary to convince you that I am, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Mrs. Sloper .# 

Crishna-nagur , Oct. 13, 1790. 

I deserve no thanks for the attentions which it is 
both my duty and my delight to shew our beloved An¬ 
na; but you deserve, and I beg you to accept, my warm¬ 
est thanks for your entertaining letter, for your frequent 
kind remembrance of me, and your acceptable present 
of a snuff-box in the most elegant taste. All that you 
write concerning our friends is highly interesting to me; 
and all pleasing, except the contents of your last page; 
but the most agreeable part of your letter is the hope 
which you express, that the Bath waters would restore 
you to health: and it gives me infinite pleasure to know, 
that your hope has been realized. Anna will give you 
a full account of herself, and will mention some of the 
many reasons that make me a bad correspondent. I 
thank you for Erskine’s speech; but I was myself an 
advocate so long, that I never mind what advocates say , 
but what they prove; and 1 can only examine proofs in 
causes brought before me. I knew you would receive 
with your usual good-nature my saucy jests about your 
hand-writing, but hope you will write to me, as you 
write to Anna; for you know, the more any character 
resembles pot-hooks, &c. the better I can read it. My 


Sister to Lady Jones, and married to William Charles Sloper, Esq. 


351 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

love to Amelia, and all whom you love, which would 
give them a claim, if they had no other, to the affection 
My dear Madam, 

Your ever faithful, 
William Jones. 

Sir William Jones to Sir J. Macpherson , Bart . 

Crishna-nagur , Oct. 15 , 1790 . 

I give you hearty thanks for your postscript, which 
(as you enjoin secrecy) I will only allude to ambigu- 
ously, lest this letter should fall into other hands than 
yours. Be assured that what I am going to say does 
not proceed from an imperfect sense of your kindness, 
but really I want no addition to my fortune, which is 
enough for me; and, if the whole legislature of Britain 
were to offer me a different station from that which I now 
fill, I should most gratefully and respectfully decline it. 
The character of an ambitious judge is, in my opinion, 
very dangerous to public justice, and if I were a sole 
legislator it should be enacted that every judge, as well 
U as every bishop, should remain for life in the place 
which he first accepted. This is not the language of a 
cynic, but of a man, who loves his friends, his country 
and mankind; who knows the short duration of human 
life, recollects that he has lived four and forty years, and 
has learned to be contented. Of public affairs you will 
receive better intelligence than I am able to give you. 
My private life is similar to that which you remember: 
seven hours a day on an average are occupied by my 
duties as a magistrate, and one hour to the new Indian 
digest; for one hour in the evening I read aloud to Lady 
Jones. We are now travelling to the sources of the Nile 
with Mr. Bruce, whose work is very interesting and 
important. The second volume of the Asiatic Trans¬ 
actions is printed, and the third ready for the press. I 


352 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


jabber Sanscrit every day with the pundits, and hope, 
before I leave India, to understand it as well as I do 
Latin. Among my letters I find one directed to you; 

I have unsealed it, and though it only shews that I was 
not inattentive to the note, with which you favoured 
me on the eve of your departure, yet I annex it, because 
it was yours, though brought back by my servant. 

The latter part of it will raise melancholy ideas; but 
death, if we look at it firmly, is only a change of place: 
every departure of a friend is a sort of death; and we 
are all continually dying and reviving. We shall all 
meet; I’hope to meet you again in India; but, wherever 
we meet, I expect to see you well and happy. None of 
your friends can wish for your health and happiness 
more ardently than, my dear Sir, &c. 

Sir William Jones to R. Morris , Esq, 

Calcutta , Oct . 30 , 1788 . 

When your letter arrived, I had begun my judicial 
campaign, and am so busy I can only answer it very 
shortly. Lady J. and myself are sincerely rejoiced, that 
you have so good an establishment in so fine a country. 
Need I say, that it would give me infinite delight to 
promote your views ? as far as I can I will promote them, 
but though I have a very extensive acquaintance, I nei¬ 
ther have, nor can have, influence. I can only approve 
and recommend, and do my best to circulate your pro¬ 
posals. We are equally obliged to you for your kind 
invitation, as if we had it in our power to accept it; but 
I fear we cannot leave Calcutta long enough to visit 
your Indian Montpelier. As one of the Cymrodorians, 
I am warmly interested in British antiquities and litera¬ 
ture ; but my honour is pledged for the completion of 
the new digest of Hindu laws, and I have not a moment 
to spare for any, other study. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


353 


Sir William Jones to Sir J. Sinclair , Bart, Whitehall, 
Chrishna-nagur , Oct, 15 , 1791 . 

You may rely upon my best endeavours to procure 
information concerning the Asiatic wool, or soft hair; 
and the animals that carry it. I had the pleasure of cir¬ 
culating your very interesting tracts at Calcutta, and of 
exhibiting the specimens of very beautiful wool, with 
which you favoured me. My own time, however, is 
engaged from morning to night in discharging my pub¬ 
lic duties, and in arranging the new digest of Indian 
laws. I must therefore depend chiefly on others in 
procuring the information you are desirous of obtaining. 
Mr. Bebb, of the board of trade, and colonel Kyd, wh6 
superintends the company’s garden, have promised to 
assist me. The wool of these provinces is too coarse 
to be of use; but that of Kerman in Persia, which you 
know by the name of Carmanian wool, is reckoned ex¬ 
quisitely fine, and you might, I suppose, procure the 
sheep from Bombay. The shawl goats would live, I 
imagine, and breed, in England; but it is no less diffi¬ 
cult to procure the females from Cashmir, than to pro- 
1 / cure mares from Arabia. When you see Mr. Rich¬ 
ardson, do me the favour to give him my best thanks 
for the parcel, which he sent me by the desire of the 
Highland Society. 

Sir William Jones to George Hardynge , Esq, 

Chrishna-nagur , Oct, 16 , 1791 . 

MY DEAR SIR, 

If the warmth of hearts were measured by the fre¬ 
quency of letters, my heart must be thought the coldest 
in the world; but you, I am confident, will never apply 
so fallacious a thermometer. In serious truth, I am, 
and must be, the'worst of correspondents, for the follow- 

3 A 


354 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


ing reasons among a hundred, a strong glare and weak 
eyes, long tasks and short day-light, confinement in 
court six hours a day, and in my chambers three or four, 
not to mention casual interruptions and engagements. 
You spoke so lightly of your complaint, that I thought 
it must be transient, and should have been extremely 
grieved, if, in the very moment when I heard you had 
Leen seriously ill, I had not heard of your recovery. 

Anna Maria has promised me to sail for Europe in 
January, 1793, and I will follow her, when I can live 
as well in England on my private fortune as I can do 
here on half my salary. * * * * 

I cannot but like your sonnets, yet wish you would 
abstain from politics, which add very little to the graces 
of poetry. 

Sir William Jones to Sir Joseph Banks . 

Chrishna-nagur , Oct . 18, 1791. 

I thank you heartily for your kind letters, but per¬ 
haps I cannot express my thanks better than by answer¬ 
ing them exactly as I am able. 

First, as to sending plants from India, I beg you to 
accept my excuses, and to make them to Sir George 
Young, for my apparent inattention to such commis¬ 
sions. In short, if you wish to transfer our Indian 
plants to the Western Islands, the company must direct 
Kyd and Roxburgh to send them, and their own cap¬ 
tains to receive them, and attend to them. 

We are in sad want of a travelling botanist, with some 
share of my poof friend Koenig’s knowledge and zeal. 
A stationary botanist would fix on the indigo-fera, as 
the chief object of his care. Roxburgh will do much 
on the coast, if he can be relieved from his terrible 
liead-achs; but here we have no assistance. 

I have neither eyes nor time for a botanist, yet, with 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 355 

Lady Jones’s assistance, I am continually advancing; 
and we have examined about 170 Linnaean genera . 
She brought home, a morning or two ago, the most 
lovely epidendrum that ever was seen, but the descrip¬ 
tion of it would take up too much room in a letter; it 
grew on a lofty amra, but it is an air plant, and puts 
forth its fragrant enamelled blossoms in a pot without 
earth or water: none of the many species of Linnaeus 
corresponds exactly with it. You must not imagine 
that, because I am, and shall be, saucy about the Lim 
naean language, that I have not the highest veneration 
for its great author; but I think his diction barbarous 
and pedantic, particularly in his Philosophia Botanica , 
which I have a right to criticise, having read it three 
times with equal attention and pleasure. Had Van 
Rheede exhibited the Sanscrit names with accuracy, we 
should not be puzzled with reading the Indian poems 
and medical tracts; but in all his twelve volumes, I 
have not found above ten or twelve names correctly 
expressed, either in Sanscrit or Arabic. I shall touch 
again on botany, but I proceed with your first letter. 

I have little knowledge of Yacob Bruce; but his five 
volumes, which I read aloud, (except some passages 
which I could only read with my eyes) are so enter¬ 
taining that I wished for five more, and readily forgave 
not only his mistakes in the botanical language, and in 
Arabic, but even his arrogance, which he carries extra 
jlammantia mania mundi. 

Keir’s paper on distilling I never saw in print, though 
I must have heard it read by our secretary ; but as the 
worthy author of it is in London, where you will pro¬ 
bably have met him, he will satisfy you on the subject. 

The madbuca is, beyond a doubt, the bassia; but I 
can safely assert, that not one, of fifty blossoms which I 
have examined, had 16 filaments, 8 above the throat, 


356 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

and 8 within the tube. That Koenig, whom I knew to 
be very accurate, had seen such a character, I doubt 
not, but he should not have set it down as constant. I 
frequently saw 26 and 28 filaments, sometimes 12, and 
the average was "about 20 or 22. By the way, my 
excellent friend, you will do us capital service, either 
by printing Koenig’s manuscripts or by sending us a 
copy of them; and we will send you in return, not 
only the correct Sanscrit names, but the plants them¬ 
selves, at least the seeds, if you can prevail on any cap¬ 
tain to take care of them * * * 

That the poem of Calidas entertained you, gives me 
great pleasure, but it diverts me extremely to hear from 
others, that the authenticity of the poem, is doubted in 
England; but I am not sure that my own errors of 
Inattention may not have occasioned mistakes. The 
use of the pollen in flowers is, I believe, well known to 
the Brahmans; but I am not sure, that I have not added 
the epithet prolific, to distinguish it from common dust, 
which would have been the exact version of rcnu . The 
blue nymph a. a, which I have sound reasons for believing 
the lotus of Egypt, is a native of Upper India: here we 
have only the white and rose-coloured. Filament is 
not used as a botanical w r ord, but merely as a thread, 
and the filaments for the bracelet are drawn from the 
stalk of the nymph# a. The hart , properly so called, 
may not be a native of Bengal; but Calidas- lived at 
Ugein, and lays his scene near the northern mountains; 
all the rest is clear: bears and boars, and all wild beasts, 
have been hunted here immemorially. The cocila, 
sings charmingly here in the spring; Polier will shew 
you drawings of the male and female, but will perhaps 
call it co-il: the story of its eggs always struck me as 
very remarkable. The amra is mangifera; the melli- 
ca, I believe, nyctanthes zambak; the madhavi creeper, 


S57 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

banisteria . The ensa , I cannot see in blossom. The 
swisha is mimosa odoratissima , the pippala, 
giosa. If I recollect laesha, it is not a plant, but lac. 
Vana dosini is a Sanscrit epithet of the banisteria . As 
to nard, I know not what to say; if the Greeks meant 
only fragrant grass, we have nards in abundance, acorus , 
schoenus , andropogon , cyperus , &x. But I have no 
evidence that they meant any such thing. On Arrian, 
or rather on Aristobulus, we cannot safely rely, as 
they place cinnamon in Arabia, and myrrh in Persia. 
Should any travelling botanist find the species of andro¬ 
pogon , mentioned by Dr. Blane in the plains of Gedro- 
sia, it would be some evidence, but would at the same 
time prove that it was not the Indian nard, which never 
was supposed to grow in Persia. As at present advised, 
I believe the Indian nard of the ancients to have been a 
valerian, at least the nard of Ptolemy, which is brought 
from the very country mentioned by him as famed for 
spikenard. 

And now, my dear Sir Joseph, I have gone through 
both your letters: I am for many good reasons a bad 
correspondent, but principally because the discharge 
of my public duties leaves me no more time than is suf¬ 
ficient for necessary refreshments and relaxation. 

The last twenty years of my life I shall spend, I trust, 
in a studious retreat; and if you know of a pleasant 
country-house to be disposed of in your part of Middle¬ 
sex, with pasture ground for my cattle, and garden 
ground enough for my amusement, have the goodness 
to inform me of it. I shall be happy in being your 
neighbour, and, though I write little now, will talk 
then as much as you please. 

I believe I shall send a box of inestimable manuscripts, 
Sanscrit and Arabic, to your friendly care. If I return 
to England, you will restore them to me; if 1 die in 


358 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


my voyage to China, or my journey through Persia, 
you will dispose of them as you please.* Wherever I 
may die, I shall be, while 1 live, 

My dear Sir, &c. 

Sir William Jones to Warren Hastings , Esq. 

Chrishna-nagur , Oct. 20, 1791. 

MY DEAR SIR, 

Before }^ou can receive this, you will, I doubt not, 
have obtained a complete triumph over your persecu¬ 
tors; and your character will have risen not brighter 
indeed, but more conspicuously bright, from the fur¬ 
nace of their persecution. Happy should I be if I 
could congratulate you in person on your victory; but 
though I have a fortune in England, which might satisfy 
a man of letters, yet I have not enough to establish that 
absolute independence, which has been the chief end 
and aim of my life; and I must stay in this country a 
few years longer: Lady Jones has however promised 
me to take her passage for Europe in January, 1793, 
and I will follow her when I can. She is pretty well, 
and presents her kindest remembrance to you and Mrs. 
Hastings, whom I most heartily thank for a very oblig¬ 
ing and elegant letter. My own health has, by God’s 
blessing, been very firm, but my eyes are weak, and I 
have constantly employed them eight or nine hours a 
day. My principal amusement is botany, and the con¬ 
versation of the pundits, with whom I talk fluently in 
the language of the Gods; and my business, besides the 
discharge of my public duties, is the translation of 
Menu, and of the digest which has been compiled at 

* The MSS here alluded to, after the demise of Sir'William Jones, 
were presented, together with another large collection of Eastern MSS 
to the Royal Society, by Lady Jones. A catalogue, compiled by Mr. 
Wilkins, is inserted in the 6th volume of Sir William Jones’s Works. 


359 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

my instance. Our society still subsists, and the third 
volume of their transactions is so far advanced, that it 
will certainly be published next season. Samuel Da¬ 
vis has translated the Surya Siddhanta, and is making 
discoveries in Indian astronomy, while Wilford is 
pursuing his geographical enquiries at Benares, and 
has found, or thinks he has found, an account of Africa 
and Europe, and even of Britain by name, in the Scanda 
Puran; he has sent us a chart of the Nile from Sanscrit 
authorities, and I expect soon to receive his proofs and 
illustrations. Of public affairs in India, I say little, 
because I can say nothing with certainty; the seasons 
and elements have been adverse to us in Mysore. 
Farewel, my dear Sir, and believe me to be with un¬ 
feigned regard, 

Your faithful and pbedient, 

William Jones. 

Sir William Jones to Sir Joseph Banks . 

Calcutta , Nop. 19, 1791. 

Since I sent my letter to the packet of the Queen, 

I received the inclosed from a Hindu of my acquain¬ 
tance, and I send his cusha flowers, which I have not k 
eyes to examine, especially in a season of business. 
The leaves are very long, with a point excessively long 
and fine, their edges are rough downwards, in other 
respects smooth. As this plant is to my knowledge 
celebrated in the veda, I am very desirous of knowing 
its Linnaean name. I cannot find it in Van Rheede. 

* * * * * 

The frequent allusions in these letters to local or 
botanical subjects may render them particularly inte¬ 
resting only to the friends and correspondents of Sir 
William Jones; but they describe his occupations, and 


360 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


contain his mind, which I wish to display; they exhibit 
a warmth of affection for his friends, upright principles, 
a manly independence, and a desire of honourable dis¬ 
tinction, combined with a contempt for all ambition 
incompatible with his public character. The frequent 
mention of the work which he had undertaken is equally 
a proof of his opinion of the importance of it, and of 
his solicitude to make it as perfect as possible. 

’The manner in which he mentions the travels of Mr. 
Bruce shews that he was not one of the sceptics who 
doubted of his veracity. In a paper, which he pre¬ 
sented to the society in Calcutta, he recites a conversa¬ 
tion with a native of Abyssinia, who had seen and 
known Mr. Bruce at Gwender, and who spoke of him 
in very honourable terms. At the period of this con¬ 
versation, the travels were not published; but it was 
too particular and descriptive to leave room for doubt, 
as to the identity of Mr. Bruce, and of his having passed 
some years in Abyssinia. 

Of the correspondence of Sir William Jones in 1792 , 
if it were not altogether suspended by his more impor¬ 
tant studies and avocations, no part has been commu¬ 
nicated to me. In March, 1793, I returned to Bengal, 
with a commission to succeed Marquis Cornwallis, in 
his station of governor-general, whenever he thought 
proper to relinquish it, and I had the satisfaction to 
find my friend, although somewhat debilitated by the 
climate, in a state of health which promised a longer 
duration of his life than it pleased Providence to assign 
him. The ardour of his mind had suffered no abate¬ 
ment, and his application was unremitted. The com¬ 
pletion of the work which he had undertaken occupied 
the principal portion of his leisure;, and the remainder 
of his time, which could be spared, was as usual devoted 
to literary and scientific pursuits. Botanical researches 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


361 


occasionally diverted his hours of relaxation, but he 
found impediments to them from the weakness of his 
sight, and the heat of the climate. 

The constitution of lady Jones, which was naturally 
delicate, had suffered so much from repeated attacks 
of indisposition, that a change of climate had long been 
prescribed by the physicians, as the only means of 
preserving her life; but her affectionate attachment to 
her husband had hitherto induced her to remain in India, 
in opposition to this advice, though with the full con¬ 
viction that the recovery of her health, in any consider¬ 
able degree, was impossible. She knew that the obli¬ 
gation which he had voluntarily contracted, to translate 
the digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws, was the 
only, though insuperable, obstacle to his accompanying 
her; and his entreaties were necessary to gain her re¬ 
luctant assent to undertake the voyage without his 
society. In the course of his correspondence, we trace 
his ardour to explore the new objects of investigation 
which increasing knowledge had discovered to him, 
and an intention to pursue the line of his researches 
through Persia or China, by a circuitous route to his 
native country; and at an earlier period, when the ex¬ 
tent of the field of investigation appeared boundless, he 
had declared his determination to remain in India until 
the close of the century, if it should please God to 
prolong his life. But affection set limits to his zeal for 
knowledge; and when it was finally settled that Lady 
Jones should return to England, he determined himself 
to follow her in the ensuing season, hoping by this 
period to have discharged his engagements with the 
government of India. She embarked in December, 
1793. 

In the beginning of 1794, Sir William Jones pub¬ 
lished a work, in which he had long been engaged; a 

3 B 


362 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


translation of the Ordinances of Menu, comprising the 
Indian system of duties, religious and civil. This task 
was suggested by the same motives which had induced 
him to undertake the compilation of the digest, to aid 
the benevolent intentions of the legislature of Great 
Britain, in securing to the natives of India the adminis¬ 
tration of justice, to a certain extent, by their own laws. 
Menu is esteemed by the Hindus the first of created 
beings, and not the oldest only, but the holiest, of legis¬ 
lators; and his system is so comprehensive and so 
minutely exact, that it may be considered as an insti¬ 
tute of Hindu law, prefatory to the more copious 
digest. 

This work, to use the words of the translator, con¬ 
tains abundance of curious matter, extremely interest¬ 
ing both to speculative lawyers and antiquaries, with 
many beauties, which need not to be pointed out, and 
with many blemishes, which cannot be justified or pal¬ 
liated. It is, indeed, a system of despotism and priest¬ 
craft, both limited by law, but artfully conspiring to 
give mutual support, though with mutual checks; it is 
filled with strange conceits in metaphysicks and na¬ 
tural philosophy, with idle superstitions, and with a 
scheme of theology most obscurely figurative, and 
consequently liable to dangerous misconception; 
it abounds with minute and childish formalities, 
with ceremonies generally absurd, and often ridi¬ 
culous; the punishments are partial and painful, for 
some crimes dreadfully cruel, for others reprehensibly 
slight: and the very morals, though rigid enough on 
the whole, are in one or two instances (as in the case of 
light oaths and pious perjury) unaccountably relaxed : 
nevertheless, a spirit of sublime devotion, of benevo¬ 
lence to mankind, and of amiable tendei'ness to all 
creatures, pervades the whole work: the style of it has 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 363 

a certain austere majesty, that sounds like the language 
of legislation, and extorts a respectful awe ; the senti¬ 
ments of independence upon all beings but God, and 
the harsh admonitions even to kings, are truly noble; 
and the many panegyrics on the Gayatri, the mother, 
as it is called, of the veda prove the author to have 
adored, not the visible material sun, but that divine and 
incomparably greater light, to use the words of the 
most venerable text in the Indian Scripture, which 
illumines all , delights all , from which all proceed , to 
which all must return , and which can alone irradiate , 
not our visual organs, but our souls and our intellects. 

This appreciation of a work, which had occupied so 
large a portion of his time and attention, affords a proof 
of the judgment and candour of Sir William Jones. 
The ordinances of Menu are by no means calculated 
for general reading; but they exhibit the manners of a 
remarkable people, in a remote age, and unfold the 
principles of the moral and religious systems, to which 
the Hindus have invariably adhered, notwithstanding 
their long subjection to a foreign dominion. 

I now present to the reader the last letter which I 
received from Sir William Jones, written two months 
before the departure of Lady Jones from India. 

MY DEAR SIR, 

A few days after I troubled you about the yacht, 
I felt a severe pang on hearing of your domestic mis¬ 
fortune; and I felt more for you than I should for most 
men, on so melancholy an occasion, because I well 
know the sensibility of your heart. The only topic of 
consolation happily presented itself to you : reason 
perhaps might convince us, that the death of a created 
being never happens without the will of the Creator, 
who governs this world by a special interposition of his 


364 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


providential care : but, as this is a truth which re¬ 
velation expressly teaches us, our only true comfort in 
affliction must be derived from Christian philosophy, 
which is so far from encouraging us to stifle our natural 
feelings, that even the divine author of it wept on the 
death of a friend. This doctrine, though superfluous 
to you, is always present to my mind; and I shall have 
occasion, in a few years, by the course of nature, to 
press it on the mind of Lady Jones, the great age of 
whose mother is one of my reasons for hoping most 
anxiously that nothing may prevent her returning to 
England this season. * * * 

I will follow her as soon as I can, possibly at the be¬ 
ginning of 1796, but probably not till the season after 
that; for although I shall have more than enough to 
supply all the wants of a man, who would rather have 
been Cincinnatus with his plough, than Lucullus with 
all his wealth, yet I wish to complete the system of 
Indian laws while I remain in India, because I wish to 
perform whatever I promise with the least possible im¬ 
perfection; and in so difficult a work doubts might 
arise, which the pundits alone could remove. You 
continue, I hope, to find the gardens healthy : nothing 
can be more pleasant than the house in which we live; 
but it might justly be called the temple of the winds, 
especially as it has an octagonal form, like that erected 
at Athens to those boisterous divinities. I cannot get 
rid of the rheumatism which their keen breath has 
given me, and submit with reluctance to the necessity 
of wrapping myself in shawls an'd flannel. We con¬ 
tinue to be charmed with the perspicuity, moderation, 
and eloquence of Filangieri. 

Of European politics I think as little as possible; 
not because they do not interest my heart, but because 
they give me too much pain. I have “ good will 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 365 

towards men, and wish peace on earth,” but I see 
chiefly, under the sun, the two classes of men whom 
Solomon describes, the oppressor and the oppressed. 
I have no fear in England of open despotism, nor of 
anarchy. I shall cultivate my fields and gardens, and 
think as little as possible of monarchs or oligarchs. 

I am, &x. 


* * * * 

It would not be easy to give expression to the feel¬ 
ings excited by the perusal of this letter, nine years 
after the date of it. In recalling the memory of domes¬ 
tic misfortunes, which time had nearly obliterated, it 
revives with new force the recollection of that friend, 
whose sympathy endeavoured to soothe the sorrows of 
a father for the loss of his children. The transition by 
Sir William Jones to the circumstances of his own 
situation is natural; and the conjugal bosom may, 
perhaps, sympathize with a fond husband, anticipating 
the affliction of the wife of his affection, and his own 
efforts to console her. That wife, however, still sur¬ 
vives to lament her irreparable loss, in the death of Sir 
William Jones himself, and has had, for some years, 
the happiness to console, by the tenderest assiduities, 
the increasing infirmities of an aged mother.* 

The friends of religion, who know the value of the 
“ sure and certain hope” which it inspires, will re¬ 
mark, with satisfaction, the pious sentiments expressed 
by Sir William Jones a few months only before his own 
death. They will recollect the determination which 
he formed in youth, to examine with attention the 
evidence of our holy religion, and will rejoice to find 

* Mrs. Shipley died on the 9th of March 1803, in her 87th year. 
She retained all her faculties to that prolonged period. 


366 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


unprejudiced enquiry terminating, as might be ex¬ 
pected, in a rational conviction of its truth and divine 
authority. 

Of this conviction his publications, though none of 
them were professedly religious, afford ample and in¬ 
dubitable testimony; and I cannot deem it a superfluous 
task to me, (indeed, it will be most grateful) to select 
from them, and from such other materials as I possess, 
his opinions on a subject of undeniable importance. 

Amongst the papers written by Sir William Jones, I 
find the following prayer, composed by him on the first 
day of the year 1782, about fifteen months before his 
embarkation for India, and more than twelve years be¬ 
fore his death. 

A PRAYER. 

Eternal and incomprehensible Mind , who, by thy 
boundless power, before time began, created’st innu¬ 
merable worlds for thy glory, and innumerable orders 
of beings for their happiness, which thy infinite goodness 
prompted thee to desire, and thy infinite wisdom ena¬ 
bled thee to know! we, thy creatures , vanish into no¬ 
thing before thy supreme majesty; we hourly feel our 
weakness; we daily bewail our vices; we continually ac¬ 
knowledge our folly ; thee only we adore with awful 
veneration; thee we thank with the most fervent zeal; 
thee we praise with astonishment and rapture; to thy 
power we humbly submit; of thy goodness we devoutly 
implore protection; on thy wisdom we firmly and cheer¬ 
fully re^ly. We do but open our eyes, and instantly we 
perceive thy divine existence; we do but exert our rea¬ 
son, and in a moment we discover thy divine attributes; 
but our eyes could not behold thy splendor, nor could 
our minds comprehend thy divine essence: we see thee 
only through thy stupendous and all perfect works; we 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 36 7 

know thee only by that ray of sacred light, which it has 
pleased thee to reveal. Nevertheless, if creatures too 
ignorant to conceive , and too depraved to pursue , the 
means of their own happiness, may without presump¬ 
tion express their wants to their Creator, let us humbly 
supplicate thee to remove from us that evil, which thou 
hast permitted for a time to exist, that the ultimate good 
of all may be complete, and to secure us from that vice, 
which thou sufferest to spread snares around us, that 
the triumph of virtue may be more conspicuous. Irra¬ 
diate our minds with ail useful truth; instil into our 
hearts a spirit of general benevolence; give understanding 
to the foolish; meekness to the proud; temperance to the 
dissolute; fortitude to the feeble-hearted; hope to the 
desponding; faith to the unbelieving; diligence to the 
slothful; patience to those who are in pain, and thy ce¬ 
lestial aid to those who are in danger: comfort the af¬ 
flicted; relieve the distressed; supply the hungry with 
salutary food, and the thirsty with a plentiful stream. 
Impute not our doubts to indifference, nor our slowness 
of belief to hardness of heart; but be indulgent to our 
imperfect nature, and supply our imperfections by thy 
heavenly favour . “ Suffer net, we anxiously pray, suf- 

“ fer not oppression to prevail over innocence, nor the 
“ might of the avenger over the weakness of the just.” 
Whenever we address thee in our retirement from the 
vanities of the world, if our prayers ar z foolish,pity us; 
if presumptuous, pardon us; if acceptable to thee, grant 
them, all powerful GOD, grant them; and, as with our 
living voice, and with our dying lips, we will express 
our submission to thy decrees, adore thy providence, and 
bless thy dispensations, so, in all future states, to which 
we reverently hope thy goodness will raise us, grant that 
we may continue praising, \admiring, venerating , wor- 


368 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


shipping thee more and more, through worlds without 
number , and ages without end! 

Jan . 1 , 1782 . 

I do not adduce this prayer as evidence of the belief 
of Sir William Jones in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, 
although X think that such a composition could hardly 
have been framed by an unbeliever in the Gospel: or if 
this be deemed possible, that a mind capable of feeling 
the sentiments which it expresses, could long have with¬ 
held its assent to the truths of revelation. It is evident¬ 
ly the effusion of a pious mind, deeply impressed with 
an awful sense of the infinite wisdom, power, and bene¬ 
volence of his Creator, and of the ignorance, weakness, 
and depravity of human nature; sentiments which the 
reason of mankind strongly suggests, and which revela¬ 
tion expressly teaches. Let it be remembered that, 
long before this prayer was written, Sir William Jones 
had demonstrated,* to his own satisfaction, that Jesus 
was the Messiah, predicted by the prophets; that, 
amongst his projected occupations in India, onet was 
to translate the Psalms into Persic, and the Gospel of 
Luke into Arabic; a design which could only have ori¬ 
ginated in his conviction of the importance and inspira¬ 
tion of these divine books; that, in the year after the 
date of the prayer, we have a direct and public avowal 
of his belief in the divinity of our Saviour ;J and again, 
in the next, another prayer by him, expressing his ex¬ 
clusive reliance on the merits of his Redeemer for his 
acceptance with G6d.§ * 

Amongst the publications of Sir William Jones, in 
which his religious sentiments are expressed, I shall 
fipst notice, A Dissertation on the Gods of Greece , Italy> 

* Memoirs, page 65. f Ibid, p. 228. J Ibid, p. 231. \ Ibid, p. 249.. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 369 

and Rome ,. written in 1784, but revised and printed 
in 1786, in which the following passage occurs, 44 Dis- 
“ quisitions concerning the manners and conduct of our 
“ species, in early times, or indeed at any time, are al- 
“ ways curious at least, and amusing; but they are 
“ highly interesting to such as can say of themselves, 

“ with Chremes in the play, 4 We are men; and take 
“ an interest in all that relates to mankind.’ They may ' 
“ even be of solid importance in an age, when some in- 
“ telligent and virtuous persons are inclined to doubt 
“ the authenticity of accounts delivered by Moses, con- 
“ cerning the primitive world; since no modes or sources 
“ of reasoning can be unimportant , which have a tendency 
“ to remove such doubts . Either the first eleven chap- 
“ ters of Genesis (all due allowances being made for a 
“ figurative Eastern style) are true, or the whole fabric 
44 of our national religion is false; a conclusion which 
44 none of us, I trust, would wish to be drawn. I, who 
4 4 cannot help believing the divinity of the Me s s i a h , from 
44 the undisputed antiquity, and manifest completion of 
44 many prophecies, especially those of Isaiah, in the 
44 only person recorded by history, to whom they are 
44 applicable, am obliged of course to believe the sanc- 
44 tity of the venerable books, to which that sacred per- 
44 son refers as genuine; but it is not the truth of our 
44 national religion, as such, that I have at heart; it is 
44 truth itself; and if any cool unbiassed reader will 
44 clearly convince me that Moses drew his narrative 
44 through Egyptian conduits, from the primeval foun- 
44 tains of Indian literature, I shall esteem him as a 
44 friend, for having weeded my mind from a capital 
44 error, and promise to stand among the foremost, in 
44 assisting to circulate the truth which he has ascer- 
44 tained. After such a declaration, I cannot but per- 
44 suade myself that no candid man will be displeased, 

3 c 


370 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

44 if, in the course of my work, I make as free with any 
“ arguments, that he may have advanced, as I should 
44 really desire him to do, with any of mine, that he may 
44 be disposed to controvert.” 

Let not the candour of the declaration, contained in 
the preceding quotation, alarm the serious Christian: the 
fair inference to be drawn from it is this: that Sir Wil¬ 
liam Jones was incapable of affirming what he did not 
fully believe, and the avowal of his faith in the divinity 
of our Saviour is, therefore, to be received as decisive 
evidence of the sincerity of his belief. Indeed, his de¬ 
claration may be considered as a proof of his faith; and 
his faith to be grounded in proportion to the openness 
of his declaration. That any reasoner could convince 
him, that Moses had borrowed his narrative from Indian 
sources, he never for a moment supposed, and if a doubt 
could be entertained on this subject, another passage in 
the same dissertation must at once annihilate it. He 
had, indeed, no hesitation to acknowledge his persua¬ 
sion, that a connexion subsisted between the old idola¬ 
trous nations of Egypt, India, Greece, and Italy, long 
before they migrated to their several settlements, and 
consequently before the birth of Moses; but he was 
equally persuaded, that the truth of the proposition could 
in no degree affect the veracity and sanctity of the Mo¬ 
saic history, which, if any confirmation of it were ne¬ 
cessary, it would rather tend to confirm. 

44 The divine legate, (I now quote his w^ords) educated 
44 by the daughter of a king, and in all respects highly 
44 accomplished, could not but know the mythological 
44 system of Egypt; but he must have condemned the 
44 superstitions of that people, and despised the specu- 
44 lative absurdities of their priests, though some of 
44 their traditions concerning the creation and the flood 
44 were founded on truth. Who was better acquainted 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 27 1 

with the mythology of Athens than Socrates? Who 
<4 more accurately versed in the rabbinical doctrines 
44 than Paul? Who possessed clearer ideas of all ancient 
44 astronomical systems than Newton, or of scholastic 
44 metaphysicks than Locke? In whom could the Ro- 
44 mish church have had a more formidable opponent 
44 than in Chillingworth, whose deep knowledge of its 
44 tenets rendered him so competent to dispute them? 
44 In a word, who more exactly knew the abominable 
44 rites and shocking idolatry of Canaan than Moses 
44 himself? Yet the learning of those great men only 
44 incited them to seek other sources of truth, piety, and 
44 virtue, than those in which they had long been im- 
44 mersed. There is no shadow, then, of a foundation 
4,4 for an opinion, that Moses borrowed the first nine 
44 or ten chapters of Genesis from the literature of Egypt; 
44 still less can the adamantine pillars of our Christian 
44 faith be moved by the result of any debates on the 
44 comparative antiquity of the Hindus and Egyptians, 
44 or of any enquiries into the Indian theology. 

From the same dissertation I select another passage, 
which, from its importance, is entitled to particular 
notice, while it evinces the solicitude of Sir William 
Jones to correct a misconception, that, in my opinion, 
has been idly and injudiciously brought forward to sup¬ 
port a fundamental tenet of evangelical revelation. 

44 Very respectable natives have assured me, that one 
44 or two missionaries have been absurd enough, in 
44 their zeal for the conversion of the Gentiles, to urge 
44 that the Hindus w T ere even now almost Christians, 
44 because their Brarnha, Vishnu, and Mahdesa, were 
44 no other than the Christian Trinity; a sentence in 
44 which we can only doubt whether folly, ignorance, 
44 or impiety, predominates.” 

The three Hindu deities were, perhaps, originally 


372 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

personifications only of the * creating, preserving , and 
destroying , or, as it may be understood, the reproducing 
power of the Supreme Being. By the bulk of the peo¬ 
ple they are considered as distinct personages, each in¬ 
vested with divine attributes; and the mythological 
writings of the Hindus contain most ample and absurd 
histories of them: but, in the Vedanti philosophy, 
which is evidently Platonic, the Almighty, known by 
the mystical and incommunicable appellation of O’M, 
is the only being; and all others, including Brahma, 
Vishnu, and Mahesa, are only the creatures of idea or 
perception; which will perish in the general annihila¬ 
tion, whilst O’M alone survives through all eternity.* 

* On this subject, I shall take the liberty to quote some curious pas¬ 
sages from a translation of a Persic version of the Yoog Vashiesti, a very 
ancient composition in Sanscrit. There are several Persian versions 
of this work; but many pages of that from which the present translation 
is given were compared with the original Sanscrit, and found to be 
substantially accurate. 

u The instability of the world, and of every thing contained in it, is cer- 
« tain: hence it will one day happen, that the evil deities, who are now 
tt so powerful, shall fall into annihilation, and the Debtas, distinguished 
it by the title of Amrit , or immortal, shall perish. The Bermhand, on 
a which all nature depends for existence, shall be broken, and not a 
“ trace remain of Bramha, Vishnu, or Siva. Time, having annihilated 
tt all, shall himself perish. 

a Bramha, Vishnu, and Mahdeva, notwithstanding their exalted dig~ 
' it nity , fall into the jaws of inexistence. 


“ You are not to consider Vishnu, Bramha, or Mahdeva, and other 
a incorporate beings, as the deity, although they have each the denomi- 
tt nation of deva or divine: these are all created; whilst the Supreme 
a Being is without beginning or end, unformed and uncreated...worship 
a and adore him. 


tt The worship which is paid to the inferior deities and the represen- 
a tations of them, proceeds from this: mankind in general are more 
u affected by appearances than realities ; the former they comprehend, 
it but the latter are difficult to be understood. Hence learned tutors 



373 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Thus, whether we consider the vulgar opinion respect¬ 
ing these three divinities, or that of the Vedanti sect, 
nothing (to use the words of Sir William Jones) can be 
more evident, than 44 that the Indian triad, and that of 
“ Plato, which he calls the Supreme Good , the reason 
“ and the soul, are infinitely removed from the holiness 
“ and sublimity of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, 
44 and that the tenet of our church cannot, without pro- 
44 faneness, be compared with that of the Hindus, 
44 which has an apparent resemblance to it, but a very 
44 different meaning.” 

At the end of the same treatise, Sir William Jones 
enumerates the sad obstacles to the extension of our 
44 pure faith ” in Hindustan, and concludes as follows: 

44 The only human mode, perhaps, of causing so 
44 great a revolution, is to translate, into Sanscrit and 
44 Persian such chapters of the prophets, and particu- 
44 larly Isaiah, as are indisputably evangelical, together 
44 with one of the gospels, and a plain prefatory dis- 
44 course, containing full evidence of the very distant 
44 ages, in which the predictions themselves, and the 
44 history of the divine person predicted, were severally 
44 made public, and then quietly to disperse the work 
44 among the well-educated natives, with whom if, in 
44 due time, it failed of promoting very salutary fruit 
44 by its natural influence, we could only lament, more 
44 than ever, the strength of prejudice, and weakness of 
44 unassisted reason.” 

That the conversion of the Hindus to the Christian 
religion would have afforded him the sincerest pleasure 
may be fairly inferred from the above passage.. His 

u first place figures before them, that their minds may be composed, 
“ and conducted by degrees to the essential Unity who survives the 
u annihilation, when the Debtas and all created existence are dissolved 
u and absorbed into liis essence.” 


374 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

wish, that it should take place, is still more clearly 
expressed in the following quotation from one of his 
hymns to Lacshmi, the Ceres of India, and a personifi¬ 
cation of the Divine Goodness. After describing most 
feelingly and poetically the horrid effects of famine in 
India, he thus concludes the hymn: 

From ills that, painted, harrow up the breast, 

(What agonies, if real, must they give !) 

Preserve thy vot’ries: be their labours blest! 

Oh ! bid the patient Hindu rise and live. 

His erring mind, that wizard lore beguiles, 

Clouded by priestly wiles, 

To senseless nature bows, for nature’s God. 

Now, stretch’d o’er oceans vast, from happier isles, 

He sees the wand of empire, not the rod : 

Ah! may those beams , that Western skies illume , 

Disperse th ’ unholy gloom ! 

Meanwhile, may laws, by myriads long rever'd, 

Their strife appease, their gentler claims decide; 

So shall their victors, mild with virtuous pride, 

To many a cherish’d grateful race endear’d, 

With temper’d love be fear’d; 

Though mists prophane obscure their narrow ken. 

They err, yet feel, though Pagans, they are men. 

The testimony of Sir William Jones to the verity and 
authenticity of the Old and New Testament is well 
known, from the care with which it has been circulated 
in England; but as it has a particular claim to be insert¬ 
ed in the memoirs of his life, I transcribe it from his 
own manuscript in his bible. 

“ I have carefully and regularly perused these Holy 
“ Scriptures; and am of opinion that the volume, in- 
“ dependency of its divine origin, contains more sub- 
“ limity, purer morality, more important history, and 
“ finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected from' 
“ all other books, in whatever language they may have 
Ci been written.” 


ST 5 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

This opinion is repeated, with little variation of ex¬ 
pression, in a discourse addressed to the society in Feb¬ 
ruary, 1791. 

“ Theological enquiries are no part of my present 
“ subject; but I cannot refrain from adding, that the 
“ collection of tracts, which we call, from their excel- 
“ lence, the Scriptures , contain, independently of a di- 
“ vine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite 
44 beauty, purer morality, more important history, and 
<4 fi ner strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could 
“ be collected, within the same compass, from all other 
44 books that were ever composed in any age, or in any 
“ idiom. The two parts of which the Scriptures con- 
sist are connected by a chain of compositions, which 
44 bear no resemblance in form or style to any that can 
44 be produced from the stores of Grecian, Indian, Per- 
44 sian or even Arabian learning; the antiquity of those 
* 4 compositions no man doubts; and the unstrained ap- 
44 plication of them to events long subsequent to their 
44 publication is a solid ground of belief that they were 
44 genuine compositions, and consequently inspired. 
44 But, if any thing be the absolute exclusive property 
44 of each individual, it is his belief; and I hope I should 
44 be one of the last men living who could harbour a 
44 thought of obtruding my own belief on the free minds 
“ of others. 

In his discourse of the following year we find him 
again mentioning the Mosaic history, under a supposi¬ 
tion, assumed for the sake of the argument which he was 
discussing, that it had no higher authority than any 
other book of history, which the reasearches of the cu¬ 
rious had accidentally brought to light. 

44 On this supposition, (I quote his own words) that 
44 the first eleven chapters of the book which it is 
44 thought proper to call Genesis, are merely a preface to 


57 6 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


44 the oldest civil history now extant, we see the truth of 
44 them confirmed by antecedent reasoning, and by evi- 
44 dence in part highly probable, and in part certain.” 
But that no misconception might be entertained on this 
awful subject by the ignorant, and to avoid the possi¬ 
bility of any perverse misapplication of his sentiments, 
he adds, 44 but the connexion of the Mosaic history with 
44 that of the gospel, by a chain of sublime predictions 
44 unquestionably ancient, and apparently* fulfilled, 
44 must induce us to think the Hebrew narrative more 
44 than human in its origin, and consequently true in 
44 every substantial part of it, though possibly expressed- 
44 in figurative language, as many learned and pious men 
44 have believed, and as the most pious may believe 
44 without injury, and perhaps with advantage to the 
44 cause of revealed religion.” 

The third volume of the Asiatic Researches, pub¬ 
lished in 1792, contains a very learned and elaborate 
treatise of lieutenant Wilford, on Egypt and the Nile , 
from the ancient books of the Hindus . It refers to a pas¬ 
sage in a Sanscrit book, so clearly descriptive of Noah, 
under the name of Satyvrata, or Satyavarman, that it is 
impossible to doubt their identity. Of the passage thus 
referred to, Sir Willian Jones, in a note annexed to the 
dissertation, has given a translation 44 minutely exact.” 
Neither the passage nor the note has appeared in the 
works of Sir William Jones; and as the former is curi¬ 
ous, and as the note has an immediate connexion with 
the subject under consideration, I insert both: 

* I could wisli that Sir William Jones had retained the expression 
•which he before used, when discussing the same topic, as the word afi~ 
parently may seem to imply a less degree of conviction than he actually 
possessed, as the tenor and terms of the passages which I have quoted 
indisputably prove. The sense in which it is to be understood, is that 
of manifestly ; his reasoning plainly requires it. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


377 


Translation from the Pudman Pur an. 

1. To Satyavarman, the sovereign of the whole earth, 

were born three sons; the eldest Sherma, then 
Charma, and thirdly, Jyapeti by name. 

2. They were all men of good morals, excellent in virtue 

and virtuous deeds, skilled in the use of weapons 
to strike with or to be thrown, brave men, eager 
for victory in battle. 

3. But Satyavarman, being continually de¬ 

lighted with devout meditation, and seeing his sons 
fit for dominion, laid upon them the burden of go¬ 
vernment. 

4. Whilst he remained honouring and satisfying the 

gods, and priests, and kine, one day, by the act of 
destiny, the king having drunk mead, 

5. Became senseless, and lay asleep naked: then was he 

seen by Charma, and by him were his two brothers 
called. 

6. To whom he said, What now has befallen? In what 

state is this our sire ? By these two was he hidden 
with clothes, and called to his senses again and 
again. 

7. Having recovered his intellect, and perfectly know¬ 

ing what had passed, he cursed Charma, saying, 
thou shalt be the servant of servants. 

8. And since thou wast a laughter in their presence, 

from laughter shall thou acquire a name. Then 
he gave to Sherma the wide domain on the south 
of the snowy mountain. 

9. And to Jyapeti he gave all on the north of the snowy 

mountain; but he, by the power of religious con¬ 
templation, attained supreme bliss. 

“ Now you will probably think (Sir William Jones 
“ says, addressing himself to the society) that even the 

3 D 



MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


3/8 

“ conciseness and simplicity of this narrative are ex- 
“ celled by the Mosaic relation of the same adventure ; 
“ but whatever may be our opinion of the old Indian 
“ style, this extract most clearly proves that the Satya- 
££ vrata, or Satyavarman of the Purans , was the sameper- 
£< sonage (as it has been asserted in a former publica- 
££ tion) with the Noah of Scripture; and we conse- 
££ quently fix the utmost limit of Hindu chronology; 
££ nor can it be with reason inferred from the identity 
££ of the stories, that the divine legislator borrowed any 
££ part of his work from the Egyptians; he was deeply 
££ versed, no doubt, in all their learning, such as it w~as; 
££ but he wrote what he knew to be truth itself, inde- 
<£ pendently of their tales, in which truth was blended 
£ £ with fable; and their age was not so remote from the 
££ days of the patriarch, but that every occurrence in his 
££ life might naturally have been preserved by tradition 
££ from father to son.” 

In his tenth discourse, in 1793, he mentions, with a 
satisfaction which every pious mind must enjoy, the 
result of the enquiries of the society over which he 
presided. 

££ In the first place, we cannot, surely, deem it an 
££ inconsiderable advantage, that all our historical re- 
££ searches have confirmed the Mosaic accounts of the 
££ primitive world, and our testimony on that subject 
££ ought to have the greater weight, because, if the re- 
£< suit of our observations had been totally different, 
££ we should nevertheless have published them, not 
££ indeed with equal pleasure, but with equal con- 
££ fidence; for truth is mighty, and whatever be its con- 
££ sequences must always prevail ; but independently 
££ of our interest in corroborating the multiplied 
££ evidences of revealed religion, we could scarcely 
££ gratify our minds with a more useful and rational 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


3/9 


“ entertainment, than the contemplation of those won- 
££ derful revolutions, in kingdoms and states, which 
££ have happened within little more than four thousand 
£< years; revolutions almost as fully demonstrative of an 
££ all-ruling providence, as the structure of the universe, 
££ and the final causes, which are discernible in its 
££ whole extent, and even in its remotest parts.” 

The preceding quotations sufficiently demonstrate 
the sentiments of Sir William Jones on the subject of 
revelation; and they may be fairly considered as 
evincing an anxiety on his part to impress his own be¬ 
lief to others; for the very expressions, which may 
seem to imply hesitation or indifference in his mind, 
are particularly adapted to enforce conviction on those 
to whom they were addressed. It is worthy of remark, 
that the reflections in many of the passages cited, 
although such as would naturally occur to a believer 
in the Scriptures, are not necessarily called for by the 
subject under his discussion, and could only proceed 
from his zeal in the investigation and'-propagation of 
truth. This was the fixed object of his whole life, 
as he has himself declared in the following elegant 
couplets : 

Before thy mystic altar, heav’nly truth, 

I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth : 

Thus let me kneel, ’till this dull form decay, 

And life’s last shade be brighten’d by tliy ray : 

Then shall my soul, now lost in clouds below, 

Soar without bound, without consuming glow.* 

A disciple of Voltaire would have omitted the obser¬ 
vations made by Sir William Jones, or have tortured 
the premises on which they are founded, into the ser¬ 
vice of infidelity; nor would he have declared that, ££ in 
££ order to enlighten the minds of the ignorant, and to 


Works, vol. i. p. 169. 


380 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

“ enforce the obedience of the perverse, it is evident 
“ a priori , that a revealed religion was necessary in the 
u great system of Providence.”* 

The mind of Sir William Jones was never tainted 
with infidelity: but there was a period, as I have 
already observed, before his judgment was matured, 
and before he had studied the Scriptures with close 
attention, when his belief in the truth of revelation was 
tinged with doubts. But these were the transient 
clouds which for a while obscure the dawn, and dis¬ 
perse with the rising sun. His heart and his judgment 
told him that religion was a subject of supreme im¬ 
portance, and the evidence of its truth worthy his most 
serious investigation. He sat down to it without pre¬ 
judice, and rose from the enquiry with a conviction, 
which the studies of his future life invigorated and con¬ 
firmed. The completion of the prophecies relating to 
our Saviour had impressed upon his youthful mind 
this invaluable truth, that the language of Isaiah and 
of the prophets was inspired; and in his belief, to which 
fresh proofs were progressively added, he closed his 
life. He has, I trust, received, through the merits of 
his redeemer, the reward of his faith. 

In matters of eternal concern, the authority of the 
highest human opinions has no claim to be admitted, 
as a ground of belief; but it may with the strictest pro¬ 
priety be opposed to that of men of inferior learning 
and penetration; and, whilst the pious derive satisfac¬ 
tion from the perusal of sentiments according with their 
own, those who doubt or disbelieve should be induced 

* These lines were written by Sir William Jones in Berkley’s 
Siris ; the} are, in fact, a beautiful version of the last sentence of the 
Siris, amplified and adapted to himself, “ He that would make a real 
“ progress in knowledge must dedicate his age as well as youth, the 
“ latter growth as well as the first fruits, at the altar of truth.” 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 581 

to weigh, with candour and impartiality, arguments 
which have produced conviction in the minds of the 
best, the wisest, and most learned of mankind. 

Among such as have professed a steady belief in the 
doctrines of Christianity, where shall greater names be 
found than those of Bacon and Newton? Of the for¬ 
mer, and of Locke, it may be observed, that they were 
both innovators in science. Disdaining to follow the 
sages of antiquity through the beaten paths of error, 
they broke through prejudices which had long obstructed 
the progress of sound knowledge, and laid the founda¬ 
tion of science on solid ground, whilst the genius of 
Newton carried him extra jlammantia mxnia mundi . 
These men, to their great praise, and we may hope to 
their eternal happiness, devoted much of their time to 
the study of the scriptures. If the evidence of revela¬ 
tion had been weak, who were better qualified to expose 
its unsoundness ? If our national faith were a mere fable, 
a political superstition, why were minds, which boldly 
destroyed prejudices in science, blind to those in reli¬ 
gion? They read, examined, weighed, and believed; 
and the same vigorous intellect, that dispersed the 
mists which concealed the temple of human knowledge, 
was itself illuminated with the radiant truths of divine 
revelation. 

Such authorities, and let me now add to them the 
name of Sir William Jones, are deservedly entitled to 
great weight. Let those who superciliously reject them 
compare their intellectual powers, their scientific at¬ 
tainments, and vigour of application, with those of the 
men whom I have named; the comparison may, per¬ 
haps, lead them to suspect that their incredulity (to 
adopt the idea of a profound scholar) may be the result 
of a little smattering in learning, and great self-conceit, 
and that, by harder study, and a humbled mind, they 
may regain the religion which they have left. 


382 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


I shall not apologize for the extracts which I have 
introduced from the works of Sir William Jones, nor 
for the reflections to which they have naturally led. 
The former display that part of his character, which 
alone is now important to his happiness; and I am 
authorized to add, not only from what appears in his 
printed works and private memoranda, in more than 
one of which, containing a delineation of his daily oc¬ 
cupations, I find a portion of time allotted to the perusal 
of the Scriptures, but from other satisfactory testimony, 
that the writings of our best divines engaged a large 
share of his attention, and that private devotion was not 
neglected by him. The following lines, which afford a 
proof both of his taste and piety, were written by him 
after a diligent perusal of eight sermons of Barrow, in 
his retirement, at Chrishna-nagur, in 1786, and with 
these I shall conclude my observations on his religious 
opinions. 

As meadows parch’d, brown groves, and withering flow’rs, 
Imbibe the sparkling dew and genial show’rs ; 

As-chill dark air inhales the morning beam ; 

As thirsty harts inhale the gelid stream; 

Thus to man’s grateful soul from heav’n descend 
The mercies of his father, lord, and friend. 

I now turn to the last scene of the life of Sir William 
Jones. The few months allotted to his existence, after 
the departure of Lady Jones, were devoted to his usual 
occupations, and more particularly to the discharge of 
that duty which alone detained him in India, the com¬ 
pletion of the digest of Hindu and Mahommedan law. 
But neither the consciousness of acquitting himself of 
an obligation which he had voluntarily contracted, nor 
his incessant assiduity, could All the vacuity occasioned 
by the absence of her, whose society had sweetened the 
toil of application, and cheered his hours of relaxation. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 383 

Their habits were congenial, and their pursuits in some 
respects similar: his botanical researches were facili¬ 
tated by the eyes of Lady Jones, ancl by her talents in 
drawing; and their evenings were generally passed to¬ 
gether, in the perusal of the best modern authors in 
the different languages of Europe. After her departure, 
he mixed more in promiscuous society; but his affec¬ 
tions were transported with her to his native country. 

On the evening of the 20th of April, or nearly about 
that date, after prolonging his walk to a late hour, dur¬ 
ing which he had imprudently remained in conversation 
in an unwholesome situation, he called upon the writer 
of these sheets, and complained of aguish symptoms, 
mentioning his intention to take some medicine, and 
repeating jocularly an old proverb, that “ an ague in 
44 the spring is medicine for a king.” He had no sus¬ 
picion, at the time, of the real nature of his indisposi¬ 
tion, which proved, in fact, to be a complaint common 
in Bengal, an inflammation in the liver. The disorder 
was, however, soon discovered by the penetration of 
the physician, who, after two or three days, was called 
in to his assistance; but it had then advanced too far 
to yield to the eflicacy of the medicines usually pre¬ 
scribed, and they were administered in vain. The 
progress of the complaint was uncommonly rapid, and 
terminated fatally on the 27th of April, 1794. On the 
morning of that day, his attendants, alarmed at the evb 
dent symptoms of approaching dissolution, came pre¬ 
cipitately to call the friend who has now the melancholy 
task of recording the mournful event. Not a moment 
was lost in repairing to his house. He was lying on 
his bed, in a posture of meditation, and the only symp¬ 
tom of remaining life was a small degree of motion in 
the heart, which, after a few seconds, ceased; and he 
expired without a pang or groan. His bodily suffering, 


384 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


from the complacency of his features, and the ease of 
his attitude, could not have been severe; and his mind 
must have derived consolation from those sources where 
he had been in the habit of seeking it, and where alone, 
in our last moments, it can ever be found. 

The deep regret which I felt at the time, that the 
apprehensions of the attendants of Sir William Jones 
had not induced them to give me earlier notice of the 
extremity of his situation, is not yet obliterated. It 
would have afforded me an opportunity of performing 
the pleasing, but painful office, of soothing his last 
moments ; and I should have felt the sincerest gratifi¬ 
cation in receiving his latest commands; nor would it 
have been less satisfactory to the public, to have known 
the dying sentiments and behaviour of a man who had 
so long and deservedly enjoyed so large a portion of their 
esteem and admiration. 

An anecdote of Sir William Jones (upon what autho¬ 
rity l know not) has been recorded: that, immediately 
before his dissolution, he retired to his closet, and ex¬ 
pired in the act of adoration to his Creator. Such a cir¬ 
cumstance would have been conformable to his prevail¬ 
ing habits of thinking and reflection; but it is not founded 
in fact: he died upon his bed, and in the same room in 
which he had remained from the commencement of his 
indisposition. 

The funeral ceremony was performed on the follow¬ 
ing day, with the honours due to his public station: and 
the numerous attendance of the most respectable British 
inhabitants of Calcutta evinced their sorrow for his loss, 
and their respect for his memory. 

If my success in describing the life of Sir William 
Jones has been proportionate to my wishes, and to my 
admiration of his character, any attempt to delineate it 
must now be superfluous. I cannot, however, resist 


385 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

the impulse of recapitulating in substance what has been 
particularly detailed in the course of this work. 

In the short space of forty-seven years, by the exer¬ 
tion of rare intellectual talents, he acquired a knowledge 
of arts, sciences, and languages, which has seldom been 
equalled, and perhaps never surpassed. If he did not 
attain the critical proficiency of a Porson or Parr, in 
Grecian literature, yet his knowledge of it was most 
extensive and profound, and entitled him to a high rank 
in the first class of scholars, while, as a philologist, he 
could boast an universality in which he had no rival. 
His skill in the idioms of India, Persia, and Arabia, has, 
perhaps, never been equalled by any European; and his 
compositions on Oriental subjects display a taste which 
we seldom find in the writings of those who had pre¬ 
ceded him in these tracks of literature.* The language 
of Constantinople was also familiar to him; and of the 
Chinese characters and tongue he had learned enough 
to enable him to translate an ode of Confucius. In the 
modern dialects of Europe, French, Italian, Spanish, 
Portuguese, and German, he w 7 as thoroughly conver¬ 
sant, and had perused the most admired writers in those 
languages. I might extend the list, by specifying other 
dialects which he understood, but which he had less 
perfectly studied.f 

* Amongst those who have latterly distinguished themselves by their> 
Oriental learning, Mr. Carlyjle has displayed equal taste and erudition, f 
in his elegant translation of Specimens of Arabian Poetry, published 
in 1796. 

f The following is transcribed from a paper in the hand-writing of 
Sir William Jones. 

LANGUAGES: 

Eight languages studied critically: 

English, Latin, French, Italian, 

Greek, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit. 

Eight studied less perfectly, but all intelligible with a dictionary: 
Spanish, Portuguese, German, Runick, 

Hebrew, Bengali, Hindi, Turkish, 

3 £ 


386 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


But mere philology was never considered by Sir 
William Jones as the end of his studies, nor as any 
thing more than the medium through which knowledge 
was to be acquired; he knew thatj“ words were the 
1/ “ daughters of earth, and things the sons of heaven,” j 
and would have disdained the character of a mere lin¬ 
guist. In the little sketch of a treatise on education, 
which has been inserted in these Memoirs, he describes 
the use of language, and the necessity of acquiring the 
languages of those people who in any period of the 
world have been distinguished by their superior know¬ 
ledge, in order to add to our own researches the accu¬ 
mulated wisdom of all ages and nations. Accordingly, 
with the keys of learning in his possession, he was qua¬ 
lified to unlock the literary hoards of ancient and mo¬ 
dern times, and to display the treasures deposited in 
them, for the use, entertainment, or instruction of man¬ 
kind. In the course of his labours, we find him eluci¬ 
dating the law 7 s of Athens, India, and Arabia; com¬ 
paring the philosophy of the porch, the lyceum, and 
academy, with the doctrines of the Sufis and Bramins; 
and, by a rare combination of taste and erudition, ex¬ 
hibiting the mythological fictions of the Hindus in strains 
not unworthy the sublimest Grecian bards. In the 
eleven discourses which he addressed to the Asiatic 
Society, on the history, civil and natural, the antiquities, 
arts, sciences, philosophy, and literature of Asia, and 
on the origin and families of nations, he has discussed 
the subjects which he professed to explain, with a per- 

Twelve studied least perfectly, but all attainable: 

Tibetian, Pali, Phalavi, Deri, 

^ Russian, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, 

Welsh, Swedish, Dutch, Chinese. 

Twenty-eight languages. 

In another memorandum, he mentions having read a grammar of 
the Russian and Welsh* 


387 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

spicuity which delights and instructs, and in a style 
which never ceases to please, where his arguments 
may not always convince. In these disquisitions he 
has more particularly displayed his profound Oriental 
learning, in illustrating topics of great importance in 
the history of mankind; and it is much to be la¬ 
mented, that he did not live to revise and improve 
them in England, with the advantages of accumulated 
knowledge and undisturbed leisure.* 


* Of these discourses, the subjects of the two first have been noticed 
in the Memoirs: the seven following, from the third to the ninth in¬ 
clusive, are appropriated to the solution of an important problem, 
whether the five nations, viz. the Indians, Arabs, Tartars, Persians, 
and Chinese, who have divided amongst themselves, as a kind of 
inheritance, the vast continent of Asia, had a common origin, and 
whether that origin was the same that is generally ascribed to them. 

To each of these nations a distinct essay is allotted, for the purpose 
of ascertaining, who they were, whence and when they came, and 
where they are now settled. The general media through which this 
extensive investigation is pursued are, first, their languages and 
letters ; secondly, their philosophy; thirdly, the actual remains of 
their old sculpture and architecture ; and fourthly, the written memo¬ 
rials of their sciences and arts ; the eighth discourse is allotted to the 
borderers , mountainers , and islanders of Asia; and the ninth, on 
the origin and families of nations, gives the result of the whole 
enquiry. 

To state all the information which is curious, novel, and interesting 
in these discourses, would be nearly to transcribe the whole; and the 
very nature of them does not admit of a satisfactory abridgment. 
The conclusion adopted by Sir William Jones may be given in his own 
words : but this, without the arguments from which it is deduced, and 
the facts and observations on which those arguments are founded, 
must be imperfectly understood. I must, therefore, refer the reader, 
who is desirous of investigating the great problem of the derivation of 
nations from their parental stock, or, in other words, of the population 
of the world, to the discourses themselves: and, in presenting him 
with a faint outline of some of the most important facts and observa¬ 
tions contained in them, I mean rather to excite his curiosity than to 
gratify it. 

I shall follow the discourses in the order in which they stand; and, 
to avoid unneccessary phraseology, I shall, as far as possible, use the 
language of Sir William Jones himself. 


388 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


A mere catalogue of the writings of Sir William 
Jones would shew the extent and variety of his erudi- 

The first discourse, which is the third of the series in which they 
were delivered, begins with the Hindus. 

The civil history of the inhabitants of India, beyond the middle of 
the 19th century from the present time, is enveloped in a clqud of 
fables. Facts, strengthened by analogy, may lead us to suppose the 
existence of a primeval language in Upper India, which maybe called 
Hindi , and that the Sanscrit was introduced into it by conquerors 
from other kingdoms in some very remote age. The Sanscrit language, 
whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect 
•( ythan the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely 
refined than either; yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, 
both in the roots of verbs, and in the form of grammar, than could 
possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no 
philologer could examine them all three without believing them to 
have sprung from some common source , which, perhaps, no longer 
exists. There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for 
supposing that both the Gothic and Celtick , though blended with a 
very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the 
old Persian might be added to the same family. 

The Deb-nagari characters, in which the languages of India were 
originally written, are adopted with little variation in form, in more 
than twenty kingdoms and states, from the borders of Cashgar and 
Khoten , to the southern extremity of the peninsula; and from the 
Indus to the river of Siam. That the square Chaldaic characters, 
in which most Hebrew books are copied, were originally the same, 
or derived from the same prototype, both with the Indian and 
Arabian characters, there can be little doubt; and it is probable that 
the Phoenician, from which the Greek and Roman alphabets were 
formed, had a similar origin. 

The deities adored in India , were worshipped under different 
names in Old Greece and Italy, and the same philosophical tenets 
which were illustrated by the Ionick and Attick writers, with all the 
beauties of their melodious language, are professed in India. The 
six philosophical schools of the Indians comprise all the metaphysicks 
of the old Academy , the St'a, and the Lyceum ; nor can we hesitate 
to believe that Pythagoras and Plato derived their sublime 
theories from the same fountain with the sages oflndia. The Scythian 
and Hyperborean doctrines and mythology are discovered in every 
part of the Eastern regions ; and that Wod or Oden was the same 
with Budh of India, and Fo of China, seems indisputable. 

The remains of architecture and sculpture , in India, seem to 
prove an early connexion between that country and Africa. The 


389 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

tion; a perusal of them will prove, that it was no less 
deep than miscellaneous. Whatever topic he discusses, 

letters on many of the monuments appear partly of Indian , and 
partly of Abyssinian or Rthiofiick , origin; and these indubitable facts 
seem to authorize a probable opinion, that Ethiopia and Hindustan 
were colonized by the same race. The period of the subjugation of 
India by the Hindus, under Rama, from Audh to Silan, may be dated 
at about 36 centuries before the present period. 

The ARABS come next under investigation. The Arabic lan¬ 
guage is unquestionably one of the most ancient in the world. That 
it has not the least resemblance either in words, or in the structure 
of them to the Sanscrit or great parent of the Indian dialects, is 
established by the most irrefragable arguments. With respect to 
the characters in which the old compositions of Arabia were written, 
little is known, except that the Koran originally appeared in those of 
Kufah , from which the modern Arabian characters were derived, 
and which unquestionably had a common origin with the Hebrew and 
Chaldaic. It has generally been supposed, that the old religion of 
the Arabs was entirely Sabian ; but the information concerning the 
Sabian faith, and even the meaning of the word, is too imperfect to 
admit of any satisfactory conclusion on the subject. That the people 
of Yemen soon fell into the common idolatry of adoring the sun and 
firmament is certain ; other tribes worshipped the planets and fixed 
stars, but the religion of the poets seems to have been pure theism : of 
any philosophy, but ethics, there are no traces among them ; and their 
system of morals was miserably depraved for a century, at least, 
before Mahommed. v 

Few monuments of antiquity are preserved in Arabia, and of these 
the accounts are uncertain. Of sciences, the Arabs of Hegaze were 
totally ignorant, and the only arts successfully cultivated by them 
(horsemanship and military accomplishments excepted) were poetry 
and rhetoric. The people of Yemen had possibly more mechanical 
arts, and perhaps more science. 

Thus it clearly appears that the Arabs, both of Hegaze and 
Yemen, sprang from a stock entirely different from that of the 
Hindus; and if we give credit to the universal tradition of Yemen, 
that Yoktan, the son of Eber, first settled his family in Arabia, their 
first establishments in their respective countries were nearly coeval, 
about eighteen centuries before the Christian sera. 

The TARTARS furnish the subject of the fifth discourse. In 
general, they differ wholly in feature and complexion from the 
Hindus and Arabs. The general traditional history of the Tartars 
begins with Oghug, as that of the Hindus does with Rama, and, ac¬ 
cording to Visdelou, the king of the Hyumnus or Huns, began his 



390 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


his ideas flow with ease and perspicuity; his style is 
always clear and polished; animated and forcible when 

reign about 3560 years ago, not long after the time fixed in the 
former discourses, for the regular establishments of the Hindus and 
Arabs in their several countries. 

The enquiry concerning the languages and letters of the Tartars 
presents a deplorable void, or a prospect as barren and dreary as 
their deserts : they had in general no literature (a proposition which 
is not affected by admitting, with Ibnu Arabshah, the existence of 
Diiberjin and Eighuri letters) ; and all that can be safely inferred 
from the little information we have on the subject is, the probability 
that the various dialects of Tartary descended from one common 
stock, essentially different from that from which the Indian and 
Arabian tongues severally came. The language of the Brahmans 
affords a proof of an immemorial and total difference between the 
savages of the mountains, as the Chinese call the Tartars, and the 
studious, placid, contemplative inhabitants of India. 

Pure theism appears to have prevailed in Tartary for some 
generations after Yafet; the Mongals and Turcs some ages afterwards 
relapsed into idolatry ; but Chingis was a theist. 

Thus it has been proved, beyond controversy, that the far greater 
part of Asia has been peopled and immemorially possessed by three 
considerable nations, whom, for want of better names, we may call 
Plindus, Arabs, and Tartars; each of them divided and subdivided 
into an infinite number of branches, and all of them so different in 
form and features, language, manners, and religion, that, if they 
sprang originally from one common root, they must have been sepa¬ 
rated for ages. 

The sixth and next discourse is on Persia or Iran. 

There is solid reason to suppose that a powerful monarchy had 
been established in Ir'n, for ages before the Assyrian Dynasty, (which 
commenced with Cayumers, about eight or nine centuries before 
Christ) under the name of Mahabadian Dynasty, and that it must be 
the oldest in the world. 

When Mahommed was born, two languages appear to have been 
generally prevalent in the great empire of Iran ; that of the court, 
thence named Deri, which was only a refined and elegant dialect of 
the Farsi , and that of the learned, named Pahlavi. But besides these 
two, a very ancient and abstruse tongue was known to the priests and 
philosophers, called the language of the Zend , because a book on 
religious and moral duties, which they held secret, and which bore 
that name, had been written in it. The Zend, and old Pahlavi , are 
now almost extinct in Iran; but, the Farsi , which remains almost 
pure in the Shalinameh, a poem composed about eight centuries ago, 
has now become a new and exquisitely polished language. The 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


391 


bis subject requires it. His philological, botanical, 
philosophical, and chronological disquisitions, his 

Par si has so much of the Sanscrit, that it was evidently derived from 
the language of the Brahmans ; but the pure Persian contains no 
traces of any Arabian tongue. The Pahlavi, on the contrary, has a 
strong resemblance to the Arabic, and a perusal of the Zend glossary, 
in the work of Mr. A. du Perron, decidedly proves the language of 
the Zend to be, at least, a dialect of the Sanscrit. From all these facts 
it is a necessary consequence that the oldest discoverable languages 
in Persia were Chaldaic and .Sanscrit; that, when they ceased to be 
vernacular, the Pahlavi and Zend were deduced from them respect¬ 
ively, and the Parsi from the Zend, or immediately from the dialect 
of the Brahmans ; but all had, perhaps, a mixture of Tartarian ; for 
the best lexicographers assert that numberless words in ancient 
Persian are taken from the language of the Cimmerians, or the 
Tartars of the Kipchak. 

The ancient religion of the old Persians was pure theism, which 
prevailed until the accession of Cayumers, and was evidently the 
religion of the Brahmans ; whilst the doctrine of the Zend was a* 
evidently distinct from that of the Veda. With their religion, their 
philosophy was intimately connected; and a metaphysical theology has 
been immemorially professed by a numerous sect of Persians and 
Hindus, which was carried partly into Greece, and prevails even now 
among the learned Mahommedans, who sometimes avow it without 
reserve. The modern professors of this philosophy, which is that of 
the Indian Vidanti school, are called Sufis. Their fundamental tenet is, 
that nothing exists but God ; that the human soul is an emanation from 
his essence, and, though divided for a time from its heavenly source, 
will be finally re-united with it, in the enjoyment of the highest possible 
happiness. 

The result of this discourse is, that a powerful monarchy was 
established in Iran, long before the Pishdadi or Assyrian government; 
that it was in truth a Hindu monarchy, that it subsisted many centu¬ 
ries, and that its history has been engrafted on that of the Hindus, who 
founded the monarchies of Ayodhya or Audh, and Indraprestha or 
Delhi; that the language of the first Persian empire was the mother 
of the Sanscrit , and consequently of the Zend and Persian, as well as 
of the Greek, Latin, and Gothic ; that the language of the Assyrians 
was the parent of Chaldaic and Pahlavi ; and that the primary 
Tartar language had been current in the same empire. 

Thus the three distinct races of men, described in the former 
essays, as possessors of India, Arabia, and Tartary, are discovered in 
Iran or Persia, in the earliest dawn of history. 

Whether Asia may not have produced other races of men distinct 


392 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


historical researches; and even his Persian grammar, 
whilst they fix the curiosity and attention of the 
reader, by the novelty, depth, or importance of the 

from the Hindus, the Arabs, or the Tartars, or whether any apparent 
diversity may not have sprung from an intermixture of these three, 
in different proportions, remains to be investigated ; and in this view 
the enquiry next proceeds to the Chinese, who form the subject of 
the seventh discourse. 

The word China is well known to the people whom we call 
Chinese, but they never apply it to themselves or their country. They 
describe themselves as the people of Han, or some other illustrious 
family, and their country they call Chim-cue , or the central region, 
or Tien-hia , meaning what is under heaven. 

From the evidenceof Con-fut-su, or Confucius, it is proved that the 
Chinese themselves do not even pretend that, in the age of that phi¬ 
losopher, any historical monument existed preceding the rise of their 
third dynasty, above eleven hundred years before the Christian 
epoch; and that the reign of Vuvam, who has the fame of having 
founded that dynasty, was in the infancy of their empire; and it has 
been asserted by very learned Europeans, that even of this third 
dynasty no unsuspected memorial can now he produced. It was not 
until the eighth century before our Saviour that a small kingdom was 
erected in the province of Shensi; and both the country and its metro¬ 
polis were called Chin . The territory of Chin, so called by the 
old Hindus, by the Persians and Chinese, gave its name to a race of 
emperors, whose tyranny made them so unpopular, that the modern 
inhabitants of China hold the name in abhorrence. 

The Chinas are mentioned by Menu, in a book next in time and 
authority to the Veda, as one of the families of the military class, who 
gradually abandoned the ordinances of the Veda ; and there is strong 
presumption for supposing that the Chinas of Menu are the Chinese. 
Hence it is probable that the whole race of Chinese descended from 
the Chinasoi Menu, and mixing with the Tartars, by whom the plains 
of Honan, and the more southern provinces were thinly inhabited, 
founded by degrees the race of men who are now in possession of the 
noblest empire in Asia. The language and letters, religion and 
philosophy, of the modern Chinese, or their ancient monuments, their 
sciences, and their arts, furnish little, either in support or refutation 
of this opinion ; but various circumstances, under the two heads of 
literature and religion, seem collectively to prove (as far as such 
questions admit of proof) that the Chinese and Hindus were origi¬ 
nally the same people. Many singular marks of relation may be 
discovered between them and the old Hindus, as in the remarkable 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 393 

knowledge displayed in them, always delight by 
elegance of diction. His compositions are never dry, 

period nifour hundred and thirty-two thousand ;* and in the cycle 
of sixty years, in the predilection for the mystical number nine , in 
many similar fasts and great festivals, especially at the solstices and 
equinoxes ; in the obsequies consisting of rice and fruits, offered 
to their deceased ancestors ; in the dread of dying childless, lest such 
offerings should be intermitted ; and, perhaps, in their common abhor¬ 
rence of red objects ; which the Indians carry so far, that Menu him¬ 
self, when he allows a Bramin to trade, if he cannot otherwise 
support life, absolutely forbids, “ his trafficking in any sort of red 
u cloths, whether linen or woollen, of*made of woven bark.” 

The Japanese are supposed to be descended from the same flock 
as the Chinese . The Hindu or Egyptian idolatry has prevailed in 
Japan from the earliest ages, and, amongst the ancient idols worship¬ 
ped in that country, there are many which are every day seen in 
the temples of Bengal. 

The borderers , mountaineers , and islanders , of Asia, form the 
subject of the eighth discourse. It begins with the Idumeans or 
Erythreans, who were indubitably distinct from the Arabs> and 
from the concurrence of many strong testimonies may be referred to 
the Indian stem. 

That the written Abyssinian language, which we call Ethiopic, is 
a dialect of the old Chaldean, and sister of the Arabic and Hebrew, 
is certain; and a cursory examination of many old inscriptions, on 
pillars and in caves, leaves little doubt that the Nagari and Ethiopian 
letters had a similar form. It is supposed that the Abyssinians of the 
Arabian stock, having no letters, borrowed those of the black Pagans, 
whom the Greeks called Troglodytes ; and, upon the whole, it seems 
probable that the Ethiops of Meroe were the same people with the 
first Egyptians, and consequently, as it might easily be shown, with 
the original Hindus. 

There is no trace in the maritime part of Yemen, from Aden to 
Masket, of any nation who were not Arabs or Abyssinian invaders; 
and, from the gulf of Persia to the rivers Cur and Aras, no vestige 
appears of any people distinct from the Arabs, Persians, and Tartars. 
The principal inhabitants of the mountains which separate Iran 
from India were anciently distinguished among the Brahmans, by 
the name of Doradas: they seem to have been destroyed or expelled 

* The period of 432,000 years seems to be founded on an astronomical 
calculation purposely disguised, by cyphers added or subtracted, ad lib.mm. 
See discourse on chronology of the Hindus, Sir William Jones’s Works, vol. i. 
p. 233. 


394 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


tedious, nor disgusting; and literature and science 
come from his hands, adorned with all their grace 
and beauty. 

by the Afgans or Patans ; and there is very solid ground for believing 
that the Afgans descended from the Jews; because they sometimes 
in confidence avow that unpopular origin, which in general they 
sedulously conceal, and which other Musselmans positively assert; 
because Hazaret, which appears to be the Azareth of Esdras, is one 
of their territories; and principally because their language is evi¬ 
dently a dialect of the scriptnra^Chaldaic. 

It is not unworthy of remark, that the copious vocabulary, 
exhibited by Grellmann, of the Gypsy dialect, contains so many 
Sanscrit words, that their Indian origin can hardly be doubted. 

The Boras , a remarkable race of men, inhabiting chiefly the 
cities of Gujarat, though Musselmans in regligion, are Jews in genius, 
features, and manners, and probably came first, with their brethren 
the Afgans, to the borders of India. 

The languages, letters, religion, and old monuments of Silati 
(Ceylon) prove that it was immemorially peopled by the Hindu race. 
To the people of Java and Sumatra the same origin may be assigned ; 
and, relying upon the authority of Mr. Marsden, that clear vestiges 
of one ancient language are discernible in all the insular dialects of 
the southern seas, from Madagascar to the Philippines, and even to 
the remotest islands lately discovered, we may infer from the speci¬ 
mens of their languages, in his account of Sumatra, that the parent 
of them all was no other than the Sanscrit. 

That the people of Potyid or Thibet were. Hindus, is known from 
the researches of Cassiano; their written language proves it. 

The natives of Eighur, Tancut, and Khata, who had systems of 
letters, and are even said to have cultivated liberal arts, may be sus¬ 
pected to have been of the Indian, not of the Tartarian, family ; and 
the same remark may be applied to the nation called Barmas, but 
who are known to the pundits by the name of Brahmachinas, and 
seem to have been the Brachmani of Ptolemy. 

From all that can be learned of the old religion and manners of 
the Hyperboreans, they appear, like the Massagetse, and some other 
nations usually considered as Tartars, to be really of the Gothic, that 
is of the Hindu, race ; for it is demonstrable that the Goths and 
Hindus had originally the same language, gave the same appellation 
to the stars and planets, adored the same false deities, performed the 
same bloody sacrifices, and professed the same notions of rewards 
and punishments after death. It may be concluded, that all the 
northern languages, excepting the Gothic, had a Tartarian origin, 
like that universally ascribed to the Sclavonian. 

From the best information, procurable in Bengal, it satisfactorily 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


395 


No writer perhaps ever displayed so much learn¬ 
ing, with so little 'affectation of it. Instead of 


appears, that the basis of the Armenian was the ancient Persian, of 
the same Indian stock with the Zend, and that it has been gradually 
changed, from the time that Armenia ce&sed to be a province of 

Iran. 

The Greeks and Phrygians, though differing somewhat in 
manners, and perhaps in dialect, had an apparent affinity in religion 
as well as in language. The grand object of mysterious worship in 
Phrygia is stated by the Greeks to be the mother of the gods, or 
nature personified; as she is seen among the Indians in a thousand 
forms, and under a thousand names. The Diana of Ephesus was^ 
manifestly the same goddess, in the character of productive nature ; 
and the Astarte of the Syrians and Phoenicians appear to be the same 
in another form. The Phoenicians, like the Hindus, adored the sun, 
and asserted water to be the first of created things; nor can it be 
doubted that Syria, Samaria, and Phoenice (or .the long strip of land 
on the shore of the Mediterranean), were anciently peopled by a 
branch of the Hindu stock, but were afterwards inhabited by that 
race, for the present called Arabian ; in all three, the oldest religion 
was the Assyrian, as it is called by Selden, and the Samaritan letters 
appear to have been the same at first with those of Phoenice ; but the 
Syriac language, of which ample remains are preserved, and the 
Punic, of which a specimen is seen in Plautus, and on monuments 
lately brought to light, were indisputably of a C/ialdaic or Arabic 
origin. Thus all the different races, mentioned in this discourse, 
may be referred to an Indian or Arabian pedigree. 

The ninth discourse, On the Origin and Families of Nations, 
©pens with a short review of the propositions to which we have been 
gradually led. 

That the first race of Persians and Indians , to whom may be 
added the Romans and Greeks , the Goths and the old Egyptians or 
Ethiops , originally spoke the same language, and professed the same 
popular faith, is capable of incontestable proof; that the Jews and 
Arabs , the Assyrians , or second Persian race , the people who spoke 
Syriac , and a numerous tribe of Abyssinians , used one primitive 
dialect, wholly distinct from the idiom just mentioned, is undisputed 
and indisputable: but that the settlers in China and Japan had a 
common origin with the Hindus , is no more than highly probable ; 
and that all the Tartars , as they are inaccurately called, were 
primarily of a third separate branch, totally differing from the two 
others in language, manners, and features, may be plausibly con¬ 
jectured, but cannot, for reasons alleged in a former essay, be per¬ 
spicuously shown, and is therefore for the present merely assumed. 


396 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


overwhelming his readers with perpetual quotations 
from ancient and modern authors, whose ideas or in- 

If the human race, as may be confidently affirmed, be of one 
natural species, they must all have proceeded from one pair; and the 
world, with respect to its population, in the age of Mahomet, would 
exhibit the same appearances as were then actually observed upon it. 
At that period, five races of men, peculiarly distinguished for their 
multitude and extent of dominion, were visible in Asia ; but these 
Jtearve been reduced by enquiry to three, because no more can be dis¬ 
covered, that essentially differ in language, religion, manners, and 
known characteristics. These three races of men (if the preceding 
conclusions be justly drawn) must have migrated originally from a 
central country; and all the phoenomena tend to shew that Country to 
be Iran ; it is there only that the traces of the three primitive 
languages are discovered in the earliest historical age, and its posi¬ 
tion, with respect to Arabia or Egypt , India , Tartary , or China y 
gives a weight to the conclusion, which it would not have, if either 
of those countries were assumed as the central region of population. 
Thus it is proved that the inhabitants of Asia, and consequently of 
the whole earth, sprang from three branches of one stem : and that 
these branches have shot into their present state of luxuriance, in a 
period comparatively short, is apparent from a fact universally 
acknowledged, that we find no certain monument, nor even probable 
traditions, of nations planted, empires and states raised, laws enacted, 
cities built, navigation improved, commerce encouraged, arts in¬ 
vented, or letters contrived, above twelve or, at most, fifteen or sixteen 
centuries before Christ. 

Hence it seems to follow, that the only family after the flood es¬ 
tablished themselves in the northern part of Iran; that, as they 
multiplied, they were divided into three distinct branches, each re¬ 
taining little at first, and losing the whole by degrees, of their common 
primary language, but agreeing severally on new expressions for new 
ideas; that the branch of Yafet was enlarged in many scattered 
shoots over the north of Europe and Asia, diffusing themselves as far 
as the Western and Eastern seas, and at length, in the infancy of 
navigation, beyond them both; that they cultivated no liberal arts, 
and had no use of letters, but formed a variety of dialects as their 
tribes were variously ramified; that, secondly , the children of Ham, 
who founded in Iran itself the first monarchy of Chaldeans , invented 
letters, observed and named' the luminaries of the firmanent, calcu¬ 
lated the known Indian period of 432,000 years, or an hundred and 
twenty repetitions of the Saros ; that they were dispersed at various 
intervals and in various colonies, over land and ocean ; that the tribes 
©f Mesr , Cush , and Rama , (names remaining unchanged in Sanscrit, 


39 7 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

formation he adopts, he transmutes their sense into 
his own language; and whilst his compositions on 

and highly revered by the Hindus) settled in Africk and India ; while 
some of them, having improved the art of sailing, passed from 
Phamce , and Phrygia , into Italy and Greece; whilst a 
swarm from the same hive moved by a northerly course into Scancli- 
navm, and another, by the head of the Oxus, and through the passes 
of Imaus, into Cashgar and Eighdr , Khata , and Khoten , as far as the 
territories of Chin and Tancut, where letters have been immemorially 
used, andarts cultivated, nor is it unreasonable to believe that some of 
them found their way from the Eastern isles into Mexico and Peru 
where traces were discovered of rude literature and mythology, analo¬ 
gous to those of Egypt and India : that, thirdly , the old Chaldean 
empire being overthrown by Cayumers, other migrations took 
place ; especially into India , while the rest of Shem’s proeeny, some 
of whom had before settled on the Red Sea, peopled the whole 
Arabian peninsula, pressing close on the nations of Syria and 
Pheenice: that lastly, from all the three families many adventurers 
were detached, who settled in distant isles or deserts, and mountain- 
pus regions; that, on the whole, some colonies might have migrated 
before the death of Noah; but that states and empires could scarcely 
have assumed a regular form till 1500 or 1600 years before the 
Christian epoch; and that, for the first thousand years of that period, 
we have no history unmixed with fable, except that of the turbulent 
and variable, but eminently distinguished, nation, descended from 
Abraham. 

The tenth discourse is appropriated to unfold the particular 
advantages to be derived from the concurrent researches of the 
society in Asia; and, amongst the foremost and most important which 
has been attained, he justly notices the confirmation of the Mosaic 
accounts of the primitive world. 

Part of this discourse is quoted at length in the Memoirs; and to 
abstract it would add too much to the length of this note. I shall 
only observe that the discourse is worthy of the most attentive 
perusal. 

For a similar reason, and with the same recommendation, I shall 
barely advert to the subject of the eleventh and last discourse, deli¬ 
vered by Sir William Jones before the society, on the 20th of February, 
1794, On the Philosophy of the Asiatics, quoting a part of the con¬ 
cluding paragraph....“ The subject of this discourse is inexhaustible : 

“ ' n has been my endeavour to say as much on it as possible, in the 
“ fe west words ; and, at the beginning of next year, I hope to close 
“ these general disquisitions with topics measureless in extent.” In 
this general and concise abstract of the subjects discussed in these 


39S 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


this account have a pleasing uniformity, his less 
learned readers are enabled to reap the fruits of his 
laborious studies. 

His legal publications have been noticed in these 
Memoirs: of their merit I am not qualified to speak. I 
have been informed that his Essay on the Law of BaiL 
ments was stamped with the approbation of Lord Mans¬ 
field, and that his writings shew that he had thoroughly 
studied the principles of law as a science. Indeed, it is 
impossible to suppose that Sir William Jones applied 
his talents to any subject in vain. 

From the study of law, which he cultivated with en¬ 
thusiasm, he was led to an admiration of the laws of his 
own country : in them he had explored the principles of 
the British constitution, which he considered as the 
noblest and most perfect that ever was formed: and in 
defence of it he would cheerfully have risqued his pro¬ 
perty and life. In his tenth discourse to the society, in 
1793, little more than a year before his death, we trace 
the same sentiments on this subject, which he adopted 
in youth. 

“ The practical use of history, in affording particular 
examples of civil and military wisdom, has been greatly 
exaggerated; but principles of action may certainly be 

discourses, I beg may be understood that I by no means pretend to have 
done* justice either to the argument or observations of Sir William 
Jones ; but it may induce the reader to peruse the dissertations them¬ 
selves, which will amply repay the trouble of the task. 

Nor i§ the reader to'conclude that these discourses contain all that 
Sir William Jones wrote on the sciences, arts, and literature of 
Asia. We have a dissertation on Indian Chronology ; another on the 
Antiquity of the Indian Zodiac, in which he engages to support an 
opinion (which Montucla treats with supreme contempt) that the 
Indian division of the Zodiac was not borrowed from the Greeks or 
Arabs ; another specifically on the literature of the Hindus; and one 
on the Musical Modes of the Hindus ; besides many essays on curious 
and interesting subjects, for which I can only refer to his works. 


399 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

collected from it; and even the narrative of wars and 
revolutions may serve as a lesson to nations, and an ad¬ 
monition to sovereigns. A desire, indeed, of knowing 
past events, while the future cannot be known, (£hd a 
view of the present gives often more pain than d^jght) 
seems natural to the human mind; and a happy propen¬ 
sity would it be, if every reader of history would open 
his eyes to some very important corollaries, which flow 
from the whole extent of it. He could not but remark 
the constant effect of despotism in benumbing and de¬ 
basing all those faculties which distinguish men from 
the herd that grazes; and to that cause he would impute 
the decided inferiority of most Asiatic nations, ancient 
and modern, to those in Europe, who are blest with 
happier governments: he would see the Arabs rising to 
glory while they adhered to the free maxims of their 
bold ancestors, and sinking to misery from the moment 
when those maxims were abandoned. On the other 
hand, he would observe, with regret, that such republi¬ 
can governments, as tend to promote virtue and happi¬ 
ness, cannot, in their nature, be permanent; but are ge¬ 
nerally succeeded by oligarchies, which no good man 
would wish to be durable. He would then, like the 
king of Lydia, remember Solon, the wisest, bravest, and 
most accomplished of men, who asserts, in four nervous 
lines, that 44 as hail and snow, which mar the labours of 
44 husbandmen, proceed from elevated clouds, and, as 
44 the destructive thunderbolt follows the brilliant fash, 
44 thus is a free state ruined by men exalted in power, 

44 and splendid in wealth, while the people, from gross 
44 ignorance, chuse rather to become the slaves of one 
44 tyrant, that they may escape from the domination of 
44 many, than to preserve themselves from tyranny of 
44 any kind by their union and their virtues.” Since, 
therefore, no unmixed form of government could both 


400 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


preserve permanence and enjoy it, and since changes, 
even from the worst to the best, are always attended 
with much temporary mischief, he would fix on our 
British constitution (I mean our public law, not the 
actual state of things in any given period) as the best 
form ever established, though we can only make dis¬ 
tant approaches to its theoretical perfection. In these 
Indian territories, which Providence has thrown into 
the arms of Britain, for their protection and welfare, the 
religion, manners, and laws of the natives, preclude 
even the idea of political freedom; but their histories 
may possibly suggest hints for their prosperity, while 
our country derives essential benefit from the diligence 
of a placid and submissive people, who multiply with 
such increase, even after the ravages of famine, that, in 
one collectorship, out of twenty-four, and that by no 
means the largest or best cultivated (I mean Crishna- 
nagur), there have lately been found, by an actual enu¬ 
meration, a million and three hundred thousand native 
inhabitants: whence it should seem, that, in all India, 
there cannot now be fewer than thirty millions of black 
British subjects.” 

This quotation will prove that he was not tainted with 
the wild theories of licentiousness, miscalled liberty, 
which have been propogated with unusual industry since 
the revolution in France; and that, whilst he was exert¬ 
ing himself to compile a code of laws, which should 
secure the rights and property of the natives of India (a 
labour to which he, in fact, sacrificed his life), he knew 
the absurdity and impracticability of attempting to in¬ 
troduce among them that political freedom which is 
the birth-right of Britons, but the growth of ages. 
Of the French revolution in its commencement he en¬ 
tertained a favourable opinion, and, in common with 
many wise and good men, who had not as yet discovered 


401 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


the foul principle from which it sprung, washed success 
to the struggles of that nation for the establishment of 
a free constitution; but he saw with unspeakable dis¬ 
gust the enormities w r hich sprang out of the attempt, 
and betrayed the impurity of its origin. Things ill be¬ 
gun strengthen themselves with ill. We may easily 
conceive, and it is unnecessary to state, what the senti¬ 
ments of Sir William Jones w ould have been, if he had 
lived to this time. 

If the political opinions of Sir William Jones, at any 
period, have been censured for extravagance, let it be 
remembered, that he adopted none, but such as he firmly 
believed to arise out of the principles of the constitution 
of England; and as such he w*as ever ready to avow r and 
defend them. His attachment to liberty was certainly 
enthusiastic, and he never speaks of tyranny or oppres¬ 
sion, but in the language of detestation: this sentiment, 
the offspring of generous feelings, w r as invigorated by 
his early acquaintance with the republican waiters of 
Greece and Rome, and with the works of the most cele¬ 
brated political writers of his own country; but the 
whole tenor of his life, conversation, and writings, proves, 
to my conviction, that he would have abandoned any 
opinion which could be demonstrated irreconcileabie 
to the spirit of the constitution. 

With these principles, he ever refused to enlist under 
the banners of any party, which he denominated faction, 
and resisted the influence of private friendships and at¬ 
tachments, whenever they involved a competition with 
his regard to the constitution of his country. These 
sentiments may be traced in his correspondence and 
publications, and they are sometimes accompanied with 
expressions of regret, arising from the impossibility of 
reconciling his political principles to the bias of his in¬ 
clinations towards individuals. 

3 G 


402 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


The latest political publication of Sir William Jones 
is prior to the year 1783. The temper of the nation, 
soured by a long and unsuccessful war, was displayed 
during the three preceding years, in the bitterest invec¬ 
tives and censures both in and out of parliament; and 
those who thought that the principles of the constitution 
had been invaded, by the conduct of the minister, sup¬ 
ported by a majority in the house of commons, looked 
to a reformation in the representation of the country, as 
the only means of restoring the balance of the constitu¬ 
tion. The revolution, which has since deformed the 
political state of Europe, was not then foreseen, and the 
experience founded on the consequences of the specula¬ 
tions which led to it, or have emerged from it, was to 
be acquired. In judging of the political opinions of 
Sir William Jones, and of the freedom with which they 
w'ere published to the world, we should revert to the 
language and spirit of the times wTen they w 7 ere deli¬ 
vered. It may be further remarked, that some political 
theories, which w T ere held to be incontrovertible, have 
of late years been questioned, and that the doctrines of 
Locke on Government, which it would once have been 
heresy to deny, no longer command that implicit acqui¬ 
escence which they once almost universally received. 

In the first charge which Sir William Jones delivered 
to the grand jury at Calcutta, he told them that he as- 
spired to no popularity, and sought no praise but that 
which might be given to a strict and conscientious dis¬ 
charge of duty, without predilection, or prejudice of any 
kind, and with a fixed resolution to pronounce on all 
occasions what he conceived to be the law 7 , than which 
no individual must-suppose himself wdser. His conduct 
as a judge w 7 as most strictly conformable to his profes¬ 
sions: on the bench he was laborious, patient, and dis¬ 
criminating: his charges to the grand jury, which do 


403 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

not exceed six, exhibit a veneration for the laws of his 
country, a just and spirited encomium on the trial by 
jury, as the greatest and most invaluable right derived 
from them to the subject, a detestation of crimes, com¬ 
bined with mercy towards the offender, occasional elu¬ 
cidations of the law, and the strongest feelings of hu¬ 
manity and benevolence. By his knowledge of the 
Sanscrit and Arabic, he was eminently qualified to pro¬ 
mote the administration of justice in the supreme court, 
by detecting misrepresentations of the Hindu or Ma- 
hommedan laws, and by correcting impositions in the 
form of administering oaths to the followers of Brahma 
and Mahommed. If no other benefit had resulted from 
his study of these languages than the compilation of the 
digest, and the translation of Menu and of two Mahom- 
medan law-tracts, this application of his talents to pro¬ 
mote objects of the first importance to India and Eu¬ 
rope, would have entitled him to the acknowledgments 
of both countries. | Of his studies in general it may be 
observed, that the end which he always had in view was 
practical utility; that knowledge was not accumulated 
by him, as a source of mere intellectual recreation, or to 
gratify an idle curiosity, or for the idler purpose of os¬ 
tentatiously displaying his acquisitions: to render him¬ 
self useful to his country and mankind, and to promote 
the prosperity of both, were the primary and permanent 
motives of his indefatigable exertions in acquiring know¬ 
ledge. 

The inflexible integrity with which he discharged the 
solemn duty of this station will long be remembered in 
Calcutta, both by Europeans and natives. So cautious 
was he to guard the independence of his character from 
any possibility of violation or imputation, that no soli¬ 
citation could prevail upon him to use his personal in¬ 
fluence with the members of administration, in India, to 


404 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


advance the private interests of friends whom he esteem¬ 
ed, and which lie would have been happy to promote. 
He knew the dignity, and felt the importance, of his 
office: and, convinced that none could afford him more 
ample scope for exerting his talents to the benefit of 
mankind, his ambition never extended beyond it. No¬ 
circumstance occasioned his death to be more lamented, 
by the public, than the loss of his abilities as judge, of 
which they had had the experience of eleven years. 

When we consider the time required for the study of 
the law as a profession, and that portion of it which was 
devoted by Sir William Jones to the discharge of his 
duties as judge and magistrate in India, it must appear 
astonishing that he shoqld have found leisure for the 
acquisition of his numerous attainments in science and 
literature, and for completing the voluminous works 
which have been given to the public. On this subject 
I shall, I trust, be excused for using, as I may find con¬ 
venient, my own language in a discourse which I ad¬ 
dressed to the Asiatic society a few days after his de¬ 
cease. 

There were, in truth, few sciences in which he had 
not acquired considerable proficiency; in most, his 
knowledge was profound. The theory of music was v 
familiar to him; nor had he neglected to render himself 
acquainted with the interesting discoveries lately made 
in chemistry; and I have heard him assert that his ad¬ 
miration of the structure of the human frame, induced 
him to attend, for a season, to a course of anatomical » 
lectures delivered by his friend, the celebrated Hunter. 

Of his skill in mathematics I am so far qualified to 
speak, that he frequently perused and solved the pro¬ 
blems in the Principia. 

His last and favourite pursuit was the study of botany. • 
It constituted the principal amusement of his leisure 


405 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

hours. In the arrangement of Linnaeus he discovered 
system, truth, and science, which never failed to capti¬ 
vate and engage his attention; and from the proofs which 
he has exhibited of his progress in botany, we may con¬ 
clude that, if he had lived, he would have extended the 
discoveries in that science.* From two of the essays 
mentioned in the note, I shall transcribe two short ex¬ 
tracts, which mark his judgment and delicacy of senti¬ 
ment. “ If botany could be described by metaphors 
“ drawn from the science itself, we may justly pro- 
“ nounce a minute acquaintance with plants , their 
classes , orders , hinds , and species , to be its Jlowers y 
“ which can only produce fruit by an application of 
“ that knowledge to the purposes of life, particularly to 
“ diet, by which diseases may be avoided, and to medi- 
“ cine , by which they may be remedied.” On the in¬ 
delicacy of the Linnsean definitions, he observes, 
“ Hence it is that no well-born and well-educated wo- 
“ man can be advised to amuse herself with botany, as 
“ it is now explained, though a more elegant and de- 
“ lightful study, or one more likely to assist and embel- 
“ lish other female accomplishments, could not possibly 
“ be recommended.” 

It cannot be deemed useless or superfluous to enquire 
by what arts or method he was enabled to attain this 
extraordinary degree of knowledge. The faculties of 
his mind, by nature vigorous, were improved by con¬ 
stant exercise: and his memory, by habitual practice, 
had acquired a capacity of retaining whatever had once 

* Besides occasional botanical information, we have in the Works of 
Sir Wm. Jones, vol. ii. p. 1, a little tract entitled, The Design of a 
Treatise on the Plants of India; p. 39, A Catalogue of 420 Indian 
Plants , comprehending their Sanscrit and as many of the Linnsean 
generic names, as could with any degree of precision be ascertained; 
and p. 47, Botanical Observations on seventy select Indian Plants; 
which last was a posthumous publication. 


406 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


been impressed upon it. In his early years, he seems 
to have entered upon his career of study with this max¬ 
im strongly impressed upon his mind, that, j whatever 
had been attained, was attainable by him; and it has 
been remarked, that he never neglected nor overlooked 
any opportunity of improving his intellectual faculties, 
or of acquiring esteemed accomplishments. 

To an unextinguished ardour for universal knowledge 
he joined a perseverance in the pursuit of it, which sub¬ 
dued all obstacles. His studies in India began with the 
dawn, and, during the intermission of professional du¬ 
ties, were continued throughout the day: reflection and 
meditation strengthened and confirmed what industry 
and investigation had accumulated. It was also a fixed 
principle with him, from which he never voluntarily 
deviated, not to be deterred, by any difficulties that were - 
surmountable, from prosecuting, to a successful termi¬ 
nation, what he had once deliberately undertaken. 

But what appears to me more particularly to have 
enabled him to employ his talents so much to his own 
and the public advantage was the regular allotment of 
his time to particular occupations, and a scrupulous 
adherence to the distribution which he had fixed. Hence 
all his studies were pursued without interruption or 
confusion.* Nor can I omit remarking the candour 

* It was a favourite opinion of Sir William Jones, that all men are 
born with an equal capacity for improvement. The assertion (which I 
do not admit) will remind the reader of the modest declaration of Sir 
Isaac Newton, that, if he had done the world any service, it was due to v 
nothing but industry and patient thought. The following lines were sent 
to Sir William by a friend, Thomas Law, Esq. in consequence cf a con¬ 
versation in which he had maintained the opinion which I have imputed 
to him. His answer, which was unpremeditated, is a confirmation of it. 

Sir William, you attempt in vain/ 

By depth of reason to maintain, 

That all men’s talents are the same, 

And they, not Nature, are to blame. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 407 

and complacency, with which he gave his attention to 
a persons, of whatever quality, talents, or education; 
ie justly concluded, that curious or important informa¬ 
tion might be gained even from the illiterate, and 
w herever it was to be obtained, he sought and seized it! 

The literary designs which he still meditated seem 
to have been as ample as those which he executed; and 
if it had pleased Providence to extend the years of his 
existence, he would, in a great measure, have exhausted 
whatever was curious, important, and attainable, in the 
arts, sciences, and histories of India, Arabia, Persia 
China, and Tartary. His collections on these subjects 
were extensive, and his ardour and industry we know 
were unlimited. It is to be hoped that the progressive 
labour of the society will in part supply what he had so 
extensively planned.* 


Whatever you say, whate’er ypu write, 
Proves your opponents in the right. 

Lest genius should be ill-defin’d,° 

I term it your superior mind . 

Hence to your friends ’tis plainly shown, 
You ’re ignorant of yourself alone. 

oir William Jones’s Answer: 

Ah ! but too well, dear friend, I know 
My fancy weak, my reason slow, 

My memory by art improv’d, 

My mind by baseless trifles mov’d. 

Give me (thus high my pride I raise) 

The ploughman’s or the gardener’s praise 
With patient and mi mining toil 
To meliorate a stubborn soil; 

And say (no higher meed I ask), 

VV ith zeal hast thou perform’d thy task. 
Praise, of which virtuous minds may boast 
1 hey best confer, who merit most.' 


t The following paper, written by Sir William Jones, v 
amongst ins manuscripts after his death, and may be consider 
hibitmg his Oriental literary projects: 


found 
as ex- 



408 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Of his private and social virtues it still remains to 
speak; and I could with pleasure expatiate on the inde- 

DESIDERATA. 

INDIA. 

' 1 . 

The Ancient Geography of India, &c. from the Puranas. 

2 . 

A Botanical Description of Indian Plants from the Cosh&s, &c. 

3. 

A Grammar of the Sanscrit Language from Panini, 8cc. 

4. 

A Dictionary of the Sanscrit Language from thirty-two original Voca¬ 


bularies and Niructi. 


5. 


On the Antient Music of the Indians. 

6 . . 

On the Medical Substances of India, and the Indian Art of Medicine. 

7. 

On the Philosophy of the Ancient Indians. 

8 . 

A Translation of the Veda. 

9. 

On Ancient Indian Geometry, Astronomy, and iUgebra. 

10 . 

A Translation of the Puranas. 

11 . 

Translation of the Mahabharat and Ram ay an. 

12 . 

On the Indian Theatre, See. See. 

13. 

On the Indian Constellations, with their Mythology, from the Puranas. 

14. 

The History of India before the Mahommedan Conquest. From the 
Sanscrit Cashmir Histories. 

ARABIA. 

15. 

The History of Arabia before Mahommed. 

16. 

A Translation of the Hamasa. 

17. 

A Translation of the Hari’ri. 

18. 

A Translation of the Facahatal Khulaf-h Of the Cafiah. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 409 

pendence of his integrity, his humanity and probity, as 
well as his benevolence, which every living creature 
participated. 

Could the figure, (I quote with pleasure his own 
w ords) instincts, and qualities of birds, beasts, insects, 
leptiles, and fish, be ascertained, either on the plan of 
Buffon, or on that of Linnaeus, without giving pain to 
the objects of our examination, few studies would afford 
us more solid instruction, or more exquisite delight; 
but I never could learn by what right, nor conceive 
with what feelings, a naturalist can occasion the misery 
of an innocent bird, and leave its young, perhaps, to 
perish in a cold nest, because it has gay plumage, and 
has never been accurately delineated, or deprive even a 
butterfly of its natural enjoyments, because it has the 
misfortune to be rare or beautiful: nor shall I ever 
forget the couplet of Ferdausi, for which Sadi, who 
cites it with applause, pours blessings on his departed 
spirit. 

PERSIA. 

19. 

The History of Persia, from Authorities in Sanscrit, Arabic, Greece* 
Turkish, Persian, Ancient and Modern. 

20 . 

The Five Poems ofNiz&mi, translated in Prose. 

A Dictionary of pure Persian...Jehangiri. 

CHINA. 

21 . 

Translation of the Sh(-cing. 

22 . 

The Text of Con-fu-tsu, verbally translated, 

TARTARY. 

23. 

A History of the Tartar Nations, chiefly of the Moguls and Othmans, 
from the Turkish and Persian. 

3 H 




4ib 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 




Ah ! spare yon emmet, rich in hoarded grain ; 
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain. 


This may be only a confession of weakness, and it 
certainly is not meant as a boast of peculiar sensibility; 
but whatever name may be given to my opinion, it has 
such an effect on my conduct, that I never would suffer 
the cocilci , whose wild native wood-notes announce the 
approach of spring, to be caught in my garden, for 
the sake of comparing it with BufFon’s description; 
though I have often examined the domestic and engag¬ 
ing May ana , which “ bids us good morrow” at our 
Windows, aud expects, as its reward, little more than 
security: even when a fine young manis or pangolin was 
brought to me, against my wish, from the mountains, 
T solicited his restoration to his beloved rocks, because 
I found it impossible to preserve him in comfort at a 
distance from them. 

I have noticed his cheerful and assiduous performance 
of his filial and fraternal duty: “to the other virtues of 
u Mr. Jones (I quote the testimony and words of pro¬ 
fessor Bjornshal, who visited Oxford whilst Sir William 
Jones resided there, obligingly communicated to me by 
Dr. Ford of Mag. Hall) “ I ought to add that of filial 
“ duty, which he displays at all times in the most ex- 
“ emplary manner. I am not singular in the observa- 
“ tion here made. Every one acquainted with Mr. 
“ Jones makes it likewise. I feel a pleasure in dwel- 
“ ling upon a character that does such high honour to 
“ nature.” The unceasing regret of Lady Jones is a 
proof of his claim upon her conjugal affections; and I 
could dwell with rapture on the affability of his conver¬ 
sation and manners, on his modest unassuming deport¬ 
ment; nor can I refrain from remarking that he was 
totally free from pedantry, as well as from that arrogance 
and self-sufficiency which sometimes accompany and 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. Ml 

disgrace the greatest abilities: his presence was the 
delight of every society, which his conversation exhila¬ 
rated and improved. 

*His intercourse with the Indian natives of character 
and abilities was extensive: he liberally rewarded those 
by whom he was served and assisted, and his dependents 
were treated by him as friends. Under this denomL 
nation he has frequently mentioned in his works the 
nanfe of Rahman, a native of Yezd, and a follower of the 
doctrines of Zoroaster, whom he retained in his pay, 
and whose death he often adverted to with regret. Nor 
can I resist the impulse which I feel to repeat an anec¬ 
dote of what occurred after his demise. The pundits, 
who were in the habit of attending him, when I saw 
them at a public durbar , a few days after that melan¬ 
choly event, could neither restrain their tears for his 
loss, nor find terms to express their admiration at the 
wonderful progress which he had made in the sciences 
which they professed.* 

* The following is a translation of a Sanscrit note written to Sir Wil¬ 
liam Jones, by a venerable pundit, whom he employed in superintending 
the compilation of Hindu law. From my own communications with the 
writer of the note, I can venture to assert that his expressions of respect 
for Sir William Jones, although in the Oriental style, were most sin¬ 
cere. 

Trivcdi Servoru Sarman, who depends on you alone for support, pre¬ 
sents his humble duty, with a hundred benedictions: 

VERSES. 

1.1 To you there are many like me; yet to me there is none like you, but 
yourself; -there are numerous groves of night-flowers; yet the night- 
flower sees nothing like the moon, but the moon, 

2, A hundred chiefs rule the world, but thou art an ocean, and they are 
mere wells: many luminaries are awake in the sky; but which of 
them can be compared to the sun ? 

Many words are needless to inform those who know all things. The 
law-tract of Atri will be delivered by the hand of the footman, dispatched 
by your Excellence....Prosperity attend you. 

I add a translation of two couplets in elegant Arabic, addressed by 




412 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 

If this character of Sir William Jones be not exagge¬ 
rated by the partiality of friendship, we shall all apply 
to him his own words, “ it is happy for us that this 
“ man was born.” I have borrowed the application of 
them from Dr. Parr; and who more competent can be 
found, to estimate the merit of the great scholar, whom 
he deems worthy of this eulogium ? 

In the pleasing office of delineating his virtues, my 
regret for his loss has been suspended, but will never 
be obliterated; and whilst I cherish with pride the re¬ 
collection that he honoured me with his esteem, I can¬ 
not cease to feel and lament that the voice to which I 
listened with rapture and improvement is heard no 
more. 

As far as happiness may be considered dependent 
upon the attainment of our wishes, he possessed it. At 
the period of his death, by a prudent attention to eco¬ 
nomy, which never encroached upon his liberality, he 
had acquired a competency, and was in a situation to 
enjoy dignity with independence. For this acquisition 
he was indebted to the exertion of his talents and abi¬ 
lities, of energies well directed, and usefully applied to 
the benefit of his country and mankind. He had ob¬ 
tained a reputation which might gratify the highest 
ambition: and, as far as human happiness is also con¬ 
nected with expectation, he had in prospect a variety 
of employments, the execution of which depended only 
on the continuance of his health and intellectual powers. 
I shall not here enlarge upon the common topic of the 
vanity of human wishes, prospects, and enjoyments, 

Maulavi Casim to Sir William Jones. The writer was employed by 
him in compiling the Mahommedan law. 

Mayst thou remain with-us perpetually ; for thy presence is an orna¬ 
ment and a delight to the age. 

May no unpleasant event find, its way to thee ; and mayst thou have 
no share in the vicissitudes of fortune. 


413 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

which my subject naturally suggests; but if my reader 
should not participate that admiration which the memory 
of Sir William Jones excites in my mind, I must sub¬ 
mit to the mortification of having depreciated a charac¬ 
ter which I had fondly hoped would be effectually embla¬ 
zoned by its own excellence, if I did but simply recite 
the talents and virtues which conspired to dignify and 
adorn it. 




415 


POSTSCRIPT. 


THE following epitaph, evidently intended for 
himself, was written by Sir William Jones, a short 
time only before his demise. It displays some striking 
features of his character; resignation to the will of his 
creator, love and good-will to mankind, and is modestly 
silent upon his intellectual attainments. 

AN EPITAPH. 

Here was deposited, 
the mortal part of a man, 
who feared GOD, but not deaths 
and maintained independence, 
but sought not riches: 
who thought 

none below him, but the base and unjust, 
none above him, but the wise and virtuous,; 
who loved 

his parents, kindred, friends, country, 
with an ardour, 
which was the chief source of 
all his pleasures and all his pains ; 
and who having devoted 
his life to their service, 
and to 

the improvement of his mind, 
resigned it calmly, 

, giving glory to his Creator, 
wishing peace on earth, 
and with 

good-will to all creatures, 
on the [twenty-seventh"] day of [ April ] 
in the year of our blessed Redeemer, 
one thousand seven hundred [and ninety-four,] 




415 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


The court of directors of the East India Company 
embraced an early opportunity of testifying their respect 
for the merit of Sir William Jones. By an unanimous 
vote of the court, it was resolved, That a monument to 
his memory should be ordered, for the purpose of being 
erected in St. Paul’s Cathedral, with a suitable inscrip¬ 
tion, and that a statue of Sir William Jones should be 
prepared at the expense of the company, and sent to 
Bengal, with directions for its being placed in a proper 
situation there. 

The posthumous honours paid to his memory by a 
society of gentlemen in Bengal, who had received their 
education at Oxford, were no less liberal than appro¬ 
priate. They subscribed a sum to be given as a prize 
for the best dissertation on his character and merits, by 
any of the students at that university, and the proposal, 
with the sanction of the heads of the university, having 
been carried into execution, the premium was adjudged 
to Mr. Henry Philpotts, A. M. Fellow of Magdalen 
College. 

The expectations of my readers would be disappoint¬ 
ed if I were not to mention the solicitude of Lady Jones, 
and the means adopted by her, for perpetuating the 
fame of a husband, with whom she had lived in the 
closest union of esteem and affection. Without dwel¬ 
ling upon the elegant monument erected to his memory 
at her expense, in the anti-chamber of University Col¬ 
lege, Oxford, her regard for his reputation was more 
effectually evinced by the publication of his works in 
an elegant edition of six quarto volumes, in strict con¬ 
formity to his opinion, that “ The best monument that 
“ can be erected to a man of literary talents is a good 
“ edition of his works.” 

On the 27th of January, 1795, Sir William Jones was 
Unanimously elected a corresponding member of the 


SIR WILLIAM JONES, 417 

Historical Society of Massachusetts. The society had 
soon the mortification to learn that, nine months before 
the date of their vote, the object of their intended dis¬ 
tinction was no more. The following letter, notifying 
the resolution of the society, was addressed, by the pre¬ 
sident of it, to Sir William Jones. 

sir, Boston , Feb . 7, 1795. 

As president, and by the direction of, the Massa¬ 
chusetts Historical Society, I have the honor to inclose 
you a vote of that corporation, by which you are elected 
a member of it. 

You have also, by this conveyance, a few publications, 
and a copy of our charter: by the latter you will see, as 
well the legal date, as the design of our institution. We 
possess a large hall in the centre of Boston, where we 
deposit those books, publications, and other matters, 
which may have a tendency to fix and illustrate the po¬ 
litical, civil, and natural history, of this continent: and 
we have been very successful in our attempts to collect 
materials for that purpose. 

Your character, and the attention which the world 
allows you to have paid to learning of this kind, have 
induced us to pursue such measures as we hope will 
obtain your good wishes and friendly regard: and we 
shall have great pleasure in forwarding to you, from 
time to time, such other books and publications as we 
may suppose to be acceptable to you. 

Any observations from you, or any member of the 
society in which you preside, illustrating those facts 
which compose the natural history of America, or of 
any other part of the world, will be received as valuable 
marks of your attention. 

As the correspondence of literary and philosophical 
societies, established in different nations, is an inter- 
3 i 


418 


MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF 


Course of true philanthropy, and has a manifest tendency 
to encrease that friendship, and to support that harmony, 
in the great family of mankind, on which the happiness 
of the world so much depends, it can never solicit your 
aid without success. 

I have the honour to be, 

With sentiments of the highest respect, 

Your most obedient, humble servant, 

J. Sullivan. 

It is certainly to be greatly regretted that Sir William 
Jones did not live to translate the digest of Hindu law, 
in the compilation of which he had bestowed so much 
time and attention. It is, however, satisfactory to know, 
that his benevolent intentions, in this laborious work, 
have not been disappointed; and that Mr. H. T. Cole- 
brooke, in the civil service of the East India Company 
at Bengal, from motives of public spirit, and a laudable 
hope of distinction, has completed a translation of it, with 
an ability which does him the highest credit. This vo¬ 
luminous work was undertaken and executed by Mr. 
Colebrooke under the pressure of unintermitted official 
occupations, and is a proof of literary industry rarely 
exceeded. 

For the gratification of the reader’s curiosity, I insert 
the short but characteristic translation of the Preface of 
the Hindu compilers of the Digest. 

PREFACE BY THE COMPILERS. 

Having saluted the Ruler of Gods, the Lord of Be¬ 
ings, and the King of Dangers, Lord of Divine Classes, 
the Daughter of the King of Mountains, the venerable 
Sages, and the reverend Authors of Books, I, Jacan- 
at’ha, Son of Budra, by command of the Protectors of 
the Land, compile this book, entitled, The Sea of con- 


41 § 


SIR WILLIAM JONES, 

troversial Waves, perspicuous, diffusive, with its islands 
and gems, pleasing to the princes and the learned. 

What is my intellect, a crazy boat, compared with 
the sacred code, that perilous ocean ? The favour of 
the Supreme Ruler is my sole refuge, in traversing that 
ocean with this crazy vessel. 

The learned Radhacanta Gonespresada, of firm and 
spotless mind, Ramamohana Ramanidhee Ganasyama 
and Gungadhara, a league of assiduous pupils, must ef¬ 
fect the completion of this work, which shall gratify the 
minds of princes... of this I have unquestioned certainty. 

Embarking on ships, often do men undaunted tra¬ 
verse the perilous deep, aided by long cables, and im¬ 
pelled by propitious gales. 

Having viewed the title of loans, and the rest, aspro- 
mulged by wise legislators, in codes of laws, and as 
expounded by former intelligent authors; 

And having meditated their obscure passages with 
the lesson's of venerable teachers, the whole is now de¬ 
livered by me. 






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1 






APPENDIX 


No. I. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

QUAM jucunda mihi fait ilia semihora, qua tecum de 
poetis Persicis meis tuisque deliciis sum collocutus. Initium 
enim amicitiae et dulcissimae inter nos consuetudinis arbitrabar 
fuisse. Quam spem utriusque nostri importuna negotia fefel- 
lerunt. Ruri enim diutius quam vellem commorari, variae me 
cogunt occupationes. Tu Germanium ut audivi quam citissi- 
me proficisci meditaris. Doleo itaque amicitiam nostram in 
ipso flore quasi decidere. Illud tamen tanquam lenimen dolo- 
ris mei restat, nempe ut si prseseiis te praesentem alloqui non 
possim, liceat certe quidem per literas colloqui, et cum ser- 
monis communicatione, turn conjunctione studiorum, perfrui. 
At cum de amicitia nostra loquar, ne quaeso videar hoc tarn 
gravi nomine abuti. Permagno enim vinculo conjungi solent 
ii qui iisdem utuntur studiis, qui literas humaniores colunt, 
qui in iisdem curis et cogitaticnibus evigilant. Studia eadem 
sequimur, eadem colimus et consectamur. Hoc tamen inter 
nos interest. Nempe tu in literis Asiaticis es quam doctissi- 
mus; ego verb ut in iis doctus sim, nitor, contendo, elaboro. 
In harum literarum amore non patiar ut me vincas, ita enim 
incredibiliter illis delector, nihil ut supra possit: equidem 
poesi Graecorum jam inde a puero ita delectabar, ut nihil 
mihi Pindari carminibus elatius, nihil Anacreonte dulcius, 
nihil Sapphus, Archilochi, Alcsei, ac Simonidis aureis illis 
reliquiis politius aut nitidius esse videretur. At cum poesim 
Arabicam et Persicam degustarem, illico exarescere. 



2 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


No. II. 

REVICZKI u Mons. JONES. 

Monsieur, 

Je suis tres sensible a votre souvenir et aux compliments 
reiteres, clans vos lettres a Madame de Vaucluse; je puis dire 
que j’en suis un peu fier, me glorifiant, de ce qu’une entrevue 
d’un quart-d’heure nda pu procurer Fhonneur de votre amitie. 
Je tacherois bien de la cultiver, si mon plan me permettoit de 
faire un plus long sejour dans ce pays-ci, ou du moins, si je 
pouvois vous recontrer a Oxford, ou je pense de me rendre 
avant que je quitte l’Angleterre. J’apprens, avec plaisir, que 
vous avez ete charge de donner au public, un Essai sur la 
Prosodic des Orienteaux: comme je suis persuade que vous 
vous acquitterez dignement de cette commission, et qu’un 
bon succes.'couronnera votre entreprise, je suis charme 
d’avance, de 1’h.umiliation que vous ferez essuyer a tous nos 
Poetes Europeens qui ne pourront pas s’empecher d’avoir 
honte de la pauvrete de leurs langues prosaiques, lorsqu’ils 
s’apperceveront que les langues Orientales, ind'ependamment 
de la rime, que est de leur invention, ont de veritables quan- 
tites de syllabes aussi bien que les Grecs, avec une variete de 
pieds plus abondantes encore, et par consequent un vrai art 
metrique et prosodique. . Je prends la liberte de vous enyoyer 
le cahier d’une de mes dernieres traductions de Hafyz, dont 
je m’amuse quelquefois quandj’ai du loisir. Vous qui con- 
noissez le genie de la langue Persanne, trouverez'sans doute 
mon entreprise temeraire, aussi ne cherche-je point a faire 
sentir la beaute de Foriginal dans ma version, mais unique- 
meiit les pensees simples et sans ornement. J’y joins aussi 
une paraphrase en vers, mais tres libre. En quoi je me suis 
le plus eloigne du texte, c’est en substituant quelquefois au 
mignon une. maitresse; soit pour donner une liaison aux vers, 
qui, par la nature meme du ghazel, n’en ont point; soit pour 
me conformer en cela au gout de nos pays; d’autant plus que, 
dans le premier vers, le Persan luimieme park de sa maitresse. 
Vous trouverez aussi, a cote du texte Persan, des expressions 
analogues des poetes Grecs et Latins, suivant que je m’en 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


3 


souviens lorsque je lis Hafyz. J’espere d’avoir l’honneur de 
vous voir ici avant mon depart, vous assurant que je compte 
parmi les plus grands avantages que j’ai eu en Angleterre, 
l’honneur de votre eonnoissance. 

Je suis votre tres humble serviteur, 

REVICZKI. 

No. III. 

REVICZKI £ Mows. JONES. 

Monsieur, Londres , Je 24 eme de Fevrier , 1768. 

Le jour merne que j’ai expedie la mienne, j’ai regu votre 
savante et obligeante lettre, que j’ai lii avec un plaisii; infini, 
quoique j’aurois souhaite qu’elle but un peu moins flatteuse sur 
mon compte, et moins modeste sur le votre. Toutefois je ne 
prends pas vos expressions a la lettre, et malgre tout ce que 
vous puissiez dire, je vois clairement par votre gout et juge- 
ment sur les passages cites dans votre lettre que vous avez 
fait un grand chemin dans la litterature Orientale. Je vous 
prie, cepcndant, quelque grace pour le Gree et le Latin; car, 
quoique je ne puisse pas nier qu’il y a quelque genre de 
poesie, ou les Orienteaux, et particulierement les Persans, ont 
atteint un degre de perfection et de superiorite, je ne me 
ferois point de scrupule de renoncer plutot a la eonnoissance 
de ces trois langues qu’u la seule langue Grecque. Je suisbien 
aise que votre ouvrage soit deja si avance, et que je puisse 
esperer de la voir bientot rendu public. Je serois fort embar¬ 
rass e de vous donntT quelque avis au sujet de votre livre, & 
cause que je suis actuellement depourvu de tout livre qui 
tiaite directement de cette matiere, et que d’ailleurs, e’est une 
mer a boire, que l’abondance et la variete du metre Oriental, 
et qu’il est impossible d’en savoir par cceur toutes les parties. 
Je serois curieux de savoir, sous quel chapilre vous avez 
range le Kaside, genre de poesie tres en vogue parmi les 
Arabcs, et cultive avec grand succes, que repond plus qu’au- 
cun autre a Felegie Latine, mais qui par sa construction tient 
au Ghazel, avec cette difference, que le Ghazel, suivant les 
regies, ne devroit jamais passer 13 distiques ou beits; et que 
le Kaside n’est borne a aucun nombre: 2do. que les beits du 


4 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


Ghazel doivent par leur nature comprendre en eux-memes et 
terminer tout le sens, pendant que ceux du Kaside ont du rap¬ 
port entre eux, en continuant le meme sujet.* 

, * ' # ' * * * 

Pour ce qui regarde vos doutes sur la pretendue allegorie de 
Hafyz, il y auroit beaucoup a dire, car il semble quele respect 
et la veneration que les Mahometans portent a la memoire de 
ce grand genie est la veritable cause de leur mysterieuse in¬ 
terpretation; voulant par-11 justifier la conduite du po:te en 
nous le donnant pour un homme irreprpchable aussi bien 
dans ses mceiirs que dans ses vers. La plus grande partie de 
ses commentateurs, comrae Shemy, Surury, et les autres, 
s’evertuent d’expliquer dans un sens mystique les vers qui 
roulent sur le vin, les gallons, les plaisirs, et le mepris de la 
religion, com me indigne d’un bon Musulman; mais le plus 
habile de ces interpretes, le savant Sadi, n’a pas voulu suivre 
cette methode, disant, que quelque raison que puissent avoir 
les autres commentateurs, sans combattre leur bonnes inten¬ 
tions, il se contentera d’expliquer le texte litteralement. Il ne 
sera pas, peut-Ctre, mal-a-propos de marquer ici une anecdote, 
que j’ai lu quelque-parc, touchant Hafyz.' Ce grand homme 
etant mort, quelques uns des Ulemas ont fait difficult^ de lui 
accorderla sepulture,a cause du libertinage de ses poesies; mais 
enfin, apres bien de contestations, ils en sont venu au Tefal , 
c’est-l-dire ala pratique, d’ouvrir son Divan au hazard, moyen- 
nant une aiguille: le premier vers qui s’offrit a leur vue fut le 
suivantrj* 

%r % * * 

Ce passage ayant ete pris pour une decision du ciel, les Ulemas 
furent bientct d’accord, et on le fit enterrer dans l’endroit meme 
du Musella, devenu celebre par ses vers. Si je ne me trompe 
pas, cette circonstance se trouve dans Katib Celebi. Quant a 
moi, tout autant que je suis porte a croire que Hafyz, en par- 

* In these fetters the reader will find some passages omitted, from the im¬ 
possibility of procuring types for the Oriental languages. 

t In page 49 is a translation of the verse here omitted for the above reason. 


5 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

' \ 

kmt de vin et de l’amour, n’entend point finesse en cela, de 
meme je dois avouer que je ne trouve point des obscenites en 
lui, ni des expressions sales et grossieres, comme cela arrive 
assez souvent a Sadi. Je ne puis m’empecher non plus de le 
regarder comme un esprit fort; et je pourrois citer cent ex¬ 
amples, pour montrer qu’il se moque du prophete et de l’al- 
coran, comme quand il dit :* 

****** 

Pour les poetes Turcs, j’avoue que je ne les lis pas avec le 
meme plaisir, quoique je convienne qu’il y en a quelques uns 
qui ont du merite: le plus agreable, a mon avis, est Ruhi 
Bagdady, dont il y a des satires admirables. Je ne sais pas 
s’il est de votre connoissance. Mais la plupart des Turcs ne 
sont que des copistes ou traducteurs des Persans, et souvent 
destitues de gotit et d’harmonie. 

Je ne puis pas deviner la raison qui vous fait trouver, 
Monsieur, un sens impudique dans ce beau vers de Mesihi ; 

****** 

dont le simple sens est: “ Mon dieu, ne m’envoyez pas au 
tombeau sans que j’aie auparavant embrasse mon ami,” a 
moins que vous ne fassiez consister 1’obscenite dans 1’amitie 
d’un gallon, qui est l’eternel sujet de toutesles poesies Orien- 
tales, aussi bien que Grecques et quelquefois Latines. Je vous 
envoye la plus fraiche de mes traductions, en vous priant de 
me la renvoyer quand vous en serez las, car je n’en ai point de 
copie. Je suis, avec la plus parfaite estime et veneration, 
Votre tres humble serviteur, 

REVICZKI. 

No. IV. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Londini , Martii die 7 , 1/68. 

Dicamne me literis tuis delectatum, an eruditum; 
prorsus animi pendeo, tu in literis omne punctum tulisse 


* See page 50 . 


6 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


videris, hoc unum reprehendendum existimo, quod concisione 
peccent, etsi tu prolixitatis notam incurrere verearis. Quod 
missam ad te duarum odarum versionem intemperanti laude 
efFcras, quodve meas esse aliquid putaris nugas, id pure puta 
humanitatis ac comitatis tuae indicium esse suspicor; quod 
autem in sphalmata mea benignus animadverteris, serio habeo 
gratiam, uti vice versa, quod tam parcus fueris in castiganda 
errorum meorum sylva, indulgentise tuae adscribo. Itaque 
etsi summopere cavendum mihi sit, ne, dum culpam removere 
studeo, gratiam, quam profiteer, imminuere videar ; non pos¬ 
sum tamen apud animum meum impetrare, ut omni penitus 
apologise supersedeam. Quare non incongruum puto monere, 
me nullo, sive ostentationis, sive glorise studio, ad versus 
scribendos animum appulisse, quos jam olim in scholse limine 
valere jussos, non ante hos tres menses, otio me ad id pelli- 
ciente, resumpsi; non alia, •dis p,e] ratione, quam quod, 
Latine redditis 50 circiter odis, mercurial!s nostri Hafyzi: 

-cujus amor tantum mihi crescit in boras. 

Quantum vere novo viridis se subjicit alnus: 

in ipso progressu operis tam immanent observavi metaphrasis 
mese a prototypo difformitatem, ut me laboris fastidium cepe- 
lit. Nam etsi prseter illam infxcetam,.sed religiosam versio¬ 
nem, quam singulis distichis subscriptam vides, aliam liberio- 
rem et tersiorem, Latina seque ac Grdiica lingua, prse manibus 
babe am: 

Hoc est, Historia aurifabri et storearum textoris. , Hafiz. 

Accedit, quod ssepissime ad exprimendum unius monosyllabi 
sensum, sesquipedali paraphrasi sit utendum. Proinde non 
abs re futurum judicavi, ligati nonnun quam oratione text urn 
Persicum semulari; cujus tamen qualicunque successui illud 
semper obstabit, quod in Ghazela, nulla sit versuum cohaesio 
et cujus defectum Latina poesis nulla ratione ad- 

mittit. Sed de his affatim. 

* * * ** . 

Librurh de poesi Hchraeorum quem commendas, episcopi 
Oxoniensis, quemve tibi pro exemplar! proposuisti, legi ja'lu 



7 


SIR WILLAM JONES. 

alias, et quidem magna cum voluptate, quamvis in praesentia- 
i'um parum ex illo memorise mese inhsereat; hoc iinum recor¬ 
der, quod dictione seque ac methodo sit prseditus admirabili. 
Flores Grseci et Orientales epistolse tuse interspersi, oppido me 
delectaverunt, et observo tuum in eorum deiectu judicium. 
Propositum autem Orientem visendi, laudo quidem, sed prae- 
vie suadeo ut linguae seu Turcicae seu vulgaris Arabicse, 
usum tibi familiarem redclas, si profectum et voluptatem ex 
itinere illo consequi est animus, quando quidem non alia 
ratione Mahometanos affari conceditur. 

Quod de servili Turcarum imitatione dixi, non de omni 
imitatione dictum volo. Scio enim multos imitando arche- 
typum superasse, uti hoc, Georgica Virgiiii et Hesiodi epyct 
tjf^epoii testantur. *■ * * * 

P. S. Versus tuos Arabicos miror mehercle non tantum 
probo ; sed in hoc non ausim te semulari. 


No. V. 

REVXCZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Londini , 17 Martii , 1768. 

Oppido recreatus sum literis tuis, praecipue verb multi- 
plici tua versione, imitatione, compositione. Quarum argu- 
mento clare evincis, te non tantum 

exempiaria Grseca, 

Noeturna versasse manu, versasse diurna, 

sed omnem propemodum Hellenici sermonis xxt 

%agtev]i<rfAov assecutum esse. Multse sunt veneres in odi tua ad 
Venerem, et plenus laudis conatus in adsequando divino exem¬ 
plar!. Sed quis possit sibi a luctu temperare, cum observaverit, 
non tantum nos jacturam pati lepidissimi operis, sed quod illae 
etiam perpaucse reliquiae quae supersunt, adeo sint mutilatse & 
depravatse ? Nam etsi luberis CGncedam, textum odse, quern tu 
eligisti,sive ilitim etiam Dionys. edit. Upton.prseferendum esse 
Stephaniano, aut cujuscunque est ilia, si diis placet, emendatio, 
quod in tuo exemplari major habeatur clialecti ratio, ac plures 


8 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


insint yvijcrioTtjro^ %etpu,K r ]t)psi ; tamen negari non potest com- 
plures vel in eo reperiri hiatus, et menda, quse nulla satis 
explicatione aut sensus detorsione celari possunt. Quamvis 
autem credibile sit jEoliam puellam suo particulari idiomate 
locutam, cujus leges setate nostra non satis perspectse sint; 
quis tamen putet diolicam dialectum metro et prosodise oppo- 
sitam, ut nihil dicam de sensu ipso in aliquot locis corrupto? 

****** 

Quod pollicitus sum, mitto tibi ghazelam, Eher an Turkic &c. 
cum versione prosa, una autem etiam adumbrationem aliquam 
in versu, alio tempore expoliendam. Velim autem mihi per- 
scribas, utrum scias extare aliquam Hafyzi versionem, sive 
typis editam, sive manuscriptam, Latine, aut quovis alio Euro- 
pseo idiomate. Nam quod sciam nullus adhuc poetse hujus 
interpretationem tentavit, prseter primam ghazelam, quse 
nuperrime iterum in analectis professoris Hyde in publicum 
est emissa. 

Obsecro te insuper, ut indicare mihi velis, ubi locorum 
invenire valeam librum primum Iliadis Homeri cum analysi 
et notis in usum scholarum, in Anglia typis vulgatum, quern 
amicus meus pro filio comparandum flagitat. 

#■*■#'■*** 

Quamvis sarcinas meas colligere inceperim, ac libros meos 
in cystam condiderim; tamen si animo tuo arridet, aut si ad 
propositum tuum facit, ghazelam hanc, prius quam proficiscar, 
vertendam assumam. Tu proinde jube, ac vale. 

No. VI. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Quod solito tardius respondeam amicissimis tuis literis, 
nova et plan; peregrina civitatis hujus facies in causa est. 
Nec puto vitio mihi vertas, quod advenam me, peculiaris genti 
huic, et invisa alias consuetudo, paulo longiiis detinuerit; 
fateor enim me nuspiam tali methodo patres conscriptos de- 


9 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

eerni comperisse. Initio quidem novitate jucundum visum, 
sed sensim eo turbarum progressa res est, ut prop£ pertaesus 
sim spectaculi. Nunc igitur, crescente adhuc tumultu, domi 
manere satius ducens, occasionem nactus sum literam hanc 
exarandi. Gratulor mihi imprimis quod missam ad te carmi- 
nis Persici versionem indulgenter receperis, quod me ex eo 
idoneum judicaveris totius divani metapbrastem. Sed quam- 
vis conceptam de me opinionem gloriae mihi ducam, non vereor 
tamen adhortationem tuam taxare inclementise. Quis enim, 
nisi cui robur et ces triplex,circum pectus est, aggrediatur sex- 
cent arum ghazelarum, prosa et carmine, versionem ? Tabs 
conatus non solum complures annos requirit, sed et mentem 
ab omni alio studio vacuam, quae non est mea conditio, cum 
ego disciplinas istas non nisi pertransennam tractare consue- 
verim. Nihilominus, quid quod absolvere potero, aliquando 
in lucem edere constitui. Clavis Homeri non est expers, qui 
a me librum primum Iliadis cum vocum analysi postulavit; 
sed commodius putat pueris usuvenire opus hoc, quia in illo 
notse textui sunt subjectae, quod in clavi desideratur. Si tamen 
ad manus est tibi clavis Homeri, quseso inspicias primam ejus 
paginam ; etenim si bene memini catalogus quidam operi 
prsefixus est, qui libri hujus et typographi simul notitiam con- 
tinet. Quamvis me humanitas tua ab omni ulteriori opere 
absolverit, mitto tamen odam illam quam in penultimi tua 
epistola desiderasti, eo quod rem tibi gratam fore arbitror. 
Est autem, medius fidius, non ex facillimis una, turn sensu, 
turn vel maxime metaphrasi, ob linguae exoticae .continuum 
idioma nulla satis periphrasi exprhnendum. Quseris quid de 
linguae Hebraeae et Arabicae proptietate sentiam, deque illis 
communi fAeluxtovierp*) futuri pro praeterito; respondeo: quod 
etsi perr,ard hebraizare soleam, aut ut verius dicam, sacram 
linguam in veneratione potius quam deliciis, habeam; quod 
praeter unum Veteris Testamenti codicem, et nonnulla de eo 
Rabinorum spmnia, nihil lectu dignum afferat; hoc tamen ex 
qualicunque illius lectione retineo, quod utriusque inter gram- 
maticen summa sit affinitas, quodve paucitas temporum et 
modorum in Arabica substitutionis eorunden mutuae occasio 
est; idque linguae Hebraeae eodem morbo laboranti necessario 

h 


10 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


convenire putem ; quamvis hoc in lingua Grseca, maxima ten?- 
porum et modorum varietate gaudente, satis obvium sit, ut 
cum infinitivum pro imperativo usurpant. Quod autem ad 
vocum quantitates attinet aliter sentio. Puto enim esse Ara- 
bum artem metricam longe recentioris inventionis, utpote 
quae paulo ante Muhammedi tempora formam accepisse per- 
hibetur, nullo vestigio antiquioris poeseos. Cujus si eadem 
esset ratio apud Hebraeos, quod quidem motionum consimilis 
usus, suadere videtur; quidni hucusque sine ulla difficultate 
Hebraeorum prosodiam per analogiam assecuti fuissemus. 

Ghazela ilia, quam in miscellaneo quodam opere sine 
authoris nomine legisse te scribis, si quidem correcte scripta 
esset y certus sum, quod nihil meo adminiculo eguisses. Nunc 
autem prout erroribus scatet, Oedipus sim, si expediam. Quis 
enim ignorat in linguis Orientalibus solam punctorum diacri- 
ticorum confusionem maxi mis clifficultatibus ansam dare ? 
Quid si accedat literarum ipsarum omissio aut commutatio ? 
Hinc quicunque lectioni auctpris alicujus operam dat, mea 
quidem sententia, duplici exemplari instructus sit oportet, ut 
cum impossible pene sit mendorum expertes libros manu- 
scriptos reperire, unus alterius ope corrigatur. Et haec est 
mea methodus. 

Residuum est, ut pro Italico sonetto mihi communicatoi, 
grates referam, et laudes quas par est, conferam, epistolamque 
concludam. Vale. Londini, die 29 Martii, 1768.. 

No. VII. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Nse tu percomem perque benevolum te prsebuisti l ut 
qui inter urbanas occupationes, inter civium seditiosorum stre- 
pitum, inter comitia ad senatores eligendos comparata, occa- 
sionem tamen captaveris, cum ad me amicissimS, ut soles, 
scribendi, turn carmen Persicum mittendi, idque pulcherri- 
mum, et abs te Latine conversum. Est, mehercule, Hafez 
noster, ambrosia alendus poeta ; et quotidie gratior mihi 
jucundiorque videtur ejus venustas ac pulchritudo. Integra 
illius opera in lucem proferendi et vertendi, quemadmodum 


11 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

ctepisti, praecipua difficultas erit versio poetica, sed haec facilior 
evadet, quam opinaris : nam permultae sunt, ut puto, Gazellae, 
quas vel ob sentefntias a nostris moribus valde abhorrentes, 
vel ob figuras elatissimas et quasi 7r»fctKeKiv^wevpev*, vel ob dis- 
ticha ne minimo quidem nexu inter se cohaerentia, Latinis 
versibus non convertes ; ideoque aliquantulum levabitur Her- 
culeus alioquin labor. 

* * * * * 

Nisi essem amantissimus veritatis, et ab omni simulatione 
aversissimus, dolerem hercule, et aegre ferrem, te urbem nos- 
tram turbulentissimis his temporibus vexatam intueri, et illam 
Anglorum undequaque percelebratam libertatem in effraenam 
licentiam, ne dicam immanitatem, mutatam videre. Est sane 
respublica nostra prope divinitus initio constituta, usque ade6 
ut nulla unquam vel Graecae vel Romanae civitatis constitutio 
fuerit perfectior ; imo, nec Plato, nec Aristoteles, nec legum- 
latorum ullus, meliorem civitatis formam cogitatione compre- 
hendere potuit; tam suavi enim concentu et quasi harmonica 
tres pervulgatae rerumpublicarum formae in unam speciem 
tam parantur, ut nec Aristoxeni tibiam, nec Timothei- fides, 
modulatiores fuisse putem. Per enim est difficile civitatem 
constituere, in qua nec regis dignitas optimatum auctoritate, 
nec procerum potestate populi libertas, nec populi libertate 
legum vis et majestas, minuetur. Sic tamen in hac insula 
olim se res habuit; et etiam nunc haberet, si nonnulii homines 
fr£enis in plebe quam calcaribus uti maluissent. Idioque mihi 
temperare nequeo, quin vehementer improbem ilium Wilken- 
sium fortem quidem et ingeniosum virum, sed turbulentum 
civem, et seditionis quasi facem atque incendium. Sed multo 
magis patriciorum quorundam integritatem ac hdem requiro, 
qui ilium primo sustentabant ac tuebantur, deinde deserve- 
runt turpiter ^c prodiderunt. Si cupis legum nostrarum et 
consuetudinum pleniorem habere notitiam, perlegas velim 
Smithi librum de republica Anglorum, et Fortescuei dialo- 
gum de laudibus legum Anglise, primum Latins nec inelegan- 
ter scripsit Thomas Smithus, legatus olim noster in Gallia 
sub regno Elizabeth* ; alter, libellus est, de quo dici potest 


12 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 

id quod de fluvio Teleboa scripsit Xenophon, Mey*<s t*ev *, 
zc&Xcs £e. Auctor fait Anglise cancellarius sub rege Henrico 
sexto, et ob turbulenta tempora cum alumno suo principe 
Edwardo, in Gailiam fugit; ubi, cum esset summa senectute, 
aureolum hunc dialogum contexuit. Certe leges nostrae, 
ut in illo libro videbis, persapienter sunt composite, et, 
ut ait Pindarus, 

No^t^ o Trecvrav Gcta-thevf 

<E>VCCTCt)V T£ KCCt C&QctV0C,T6JV 

Ovrog fre a,yei Sictias 

To S'iKOUOTOtTQVy U7repTUTC£ 

Xeipc. 

Et reliqua, quae citat in Gorgia Plato. 

Equidem civitatem nostram inspiciens videor quodam- 
'modoludum Scacchicum (quo ludo uturque nostri valde delec- 
tamur) intueri. Regem enirn habemus, cujus dignitatem 
strenue defendimus; sed cujus potestas perbrevem habet ter~ 
rninationem. Equites, sagittarii,atque alii, patriciorum speciem 
quandam habent, qui bella etnegotia publica administrant; sed 
praecipua vis est in peditibus, seu populo, qui si arctj inter se 
cohsereant, praesto est victoria; si distrahantur et dissipentur, 
perit utique exercitus. Haec autem omnia, ut in ludo Scacchico, 
certis legibus diriguntur. Denique cum meipsum considero, 
videor mihi similis esse cujusdam, qui duobus lusoribus assi- 
dens, ludum studiose contemplatur visendi solum causa, et 
delectationis. Quod si unquam mihi capessere rempublicam 
continget, nec plausus mehercule quaeram nec lucrum, sed eo 
tendam, et ad eum exitum properabo, ut incolumis servetur 
pulcherrime constituta civitas. 

Sed riescio quomodo, etsi brevis esse instituti, loquax fio. 
Ad alia igitur declinabo. - Literas tuas proximas non sine 
timore aliqvio legi: Quid autem timui? Nempe tui ex hac 
insula discess&s nuntiationem. Cum autem nihil de eolocutus 
sis, et cum municipii nostri negotia ad exitum quemdam per- 
ducantur, cum denique incertos esse sciam rerum humanarum 
eventus, et nesciam, si hanc occasionem amisero,an te posthae 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


IS 


videro, statui Londinum venire; et spero propedie te vel 
Nonis vel VIII. Iduum me visurum. Cura ut valeas. 

No. VIII. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Binas abs te accepi literas humanitatis et eruditionis 
plenissimas, quibus benevolentiam in me tuam, et ingenii tui 
lumina, facile perspexi. Utrisque nunc simul respondeo. 

Consilium meum de libro in lucem proferendo, abs te pro- 
bari, ut debui, gaudebam et l^etabar, (ut inquit in trageedia 
Hector) a te laudato viro laudari. Sed cum duo ilia prop£ 
divini poetse carmina legerem, incredibilem animo cepi volup- 
tatem. Sunt valde bella, et interpretatione tua, tanquam luce 
aliqua ilhiminari videntur. Pneterea versibus ea imitatus es, 
sane elegantibus, quos versus, si cum opere meo edi concedas, 
pergratum feceris cum mihi, turn lectoribus ; qui gaudebunt, 
opinor, poetam Persicum audire Latins loquentem. Sin, 
minus, in thesauris meis latebunt. A vroypxtpcc tibi quam citis* 
sime reddenda curabo. Quod autem scribis, u Hos versus 
cum iis legendis fueris defessus, mihi reddas velim,” perinde 
est ac si dicas, “ Nunquam reddas;” neque enim fieri potest 
ut iis legendis satiari ullo modo possim. 

No. IX. ’ * 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Dat put a, Nov . 1768 . 

Tametsi vereor ne ante ex Anglia decesseris quam hae ad 
te literulae afferri poterint, nequeo tamen mihi temperare, quo 
minus eas scribam. 

Literas tuas perhumanas accepi; et cum eas, turn venus- 
tum Hafizi carmen magna cum delectatione perlegi, et quasi 
devoravi. 

Sed quid opus est verbis ? Forsan haec quae nunc scribo, 
ad te non pervenient. Proinde etiam atque etiam te rogo 


14 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


atque obtestor, ut quacunque in regione iter feceris, mei 
memor sis, et quam saepissime, qu'm primum, quam longissi- 
mas ad me literas mittas: et tibi-persuade, nihil mihi jucundius 
unquam vel fuisse vel fore, amicitia tua. Vale! 

Die Lunae, Oxonii. 

i * 


No. X. 


Tea TifuaroiTto TvXteXyea laiverioj %xtpetv xxt ev^x^reiv. 


i O<T7i pc tv ra ?! Trept Tag xXXag %evag emeixeix re xxt ax 

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rvvatrtxg X7reXxv<rx, a fxev Tot ey-otye pxfrtov ere ’ xxptQetxg urrxvlx hefye- 
yxt Tys <rt)g eVe^yesrtxg xetpxXxtx^ eog nxpxXx&av /xe e^evxyyrxg xxt e^et^xg 
tx xxXXtrrx tx AGtjvxia^ vr povxy cav Toig crrra^xiav ev^oxtyotg, xxt 7 cxvtx 
rporrov extyeXayevog o7ccog jj $i<ttx 'btx^ea rrxp' v/xtv. Tx < 5 \j r otxvtx xxt 

TolXVTX Tig UK XV 7}T^£t7) jSA£7T«M/, XXI etye £V iVftX 1$ TX TrpxyfXXTX £<JJ> 
Ttg ax Xv xy.et$/x<rB-xt ere xyotQy ry chxxix eQeXyarete. Kxt errta-TeXXof 
trot eomep vnreo-^oyviv^ a px Atx , aig QaXoyevog xvTX7ro$'t$'ovxi evepyeTy, 
xXXx y.ovxy^og etg fAeXXartig $1X1x5 eXrrt^x, xxt (xxXittx et^ug oti ax 
aXtyeoptjTetg Ttutv tfxav ypxy.y.xlcov, Tx < 5 e ev6ev uttxtx ypx$a rot, 
eyvcoo-To yxp Trptv y^tjvx d'vvxt omocreo av6tg xxrtevxt , xxt tvx fxtj 
ftxxpag xrro^etveo Tag Xoyag? ixeTeva ce xxt xvtiQoXx cos-rrep y-e^pt racle 
TroXXyv evetfrov cot Ttjv evvotxv vrpog eye Torxvlyv xxt rrpog To Xotnrov Ta 
%pova $'tx$vXx}T£ti* Eppaxro. 

<E>xgyqXlot>vo$ TgiTy $6tvovTt, 

Tjjv y,7jTepx xxt x^eXfitiv rra %xigetv 
xeXiva xxt ofxcXoya xvTxtg %xpiv » Ttjg 
*5 |£V0» XvfrgX eV7TOlix$. 

No. XL 


JONESIUS REVICZKIG, S. 

Niece Ligurum , 4 Cal . Febr, Anno 1770,- 

Miraberis forsan, nec sane injuria miraberis, cum acce- 
peris a me ex hac regione literas; non enim isthinc scribo, ubi 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. is 

ant Tamesis aut Isis delicise meae allabuntur, sed ubi marc 
Ligusticum Alpibus Maritimis minatur. 

In urbecula hie amcenissima trimestris prop]; commoror, 
fieri igitur non potuit ut in Anglii cum essem, literae tuae 
exoptatissim.ae ad me perferentur, quarum unae pridie Calend. 
Septembris, alterae decimo nono Cal. Januarii datae sunt; 
utraeque mihi erantjucundissimae, quo longiores eo me delecta- 
bant magis. Libellos tuos de re militari legendo devorare 
incredibile est quantum aveam, sed in aedibus Spencerianis, ut 
accepi, Londini servantur ; unum exemplar ad me afiferet 
prima navis oneraria, quae hue ex Britannia appulerit; tria 
reliqua curabo, ad tres amicos tuos, (imo meos, si tui sint, licet 
a me ne aspectu quidem cognitos) fideliter et celeriter quan¬ 
tum fieri potest, perferenda. Opus istud in Germania laudari, 
nee miror equidem et valde gaudeo. Primus de eo mentionem 
mihi fecit, nobilis Germanus, vir cornis ut videtur, et amabilis, 
quern Mediolani quaestoris officio fungi puto; is pollicitus est, 
non solum ad me opus tuum mittere, sed etiam certiorem 
facere, quo modo valeres, et quibus verbis ad te literas in- 
scriberem, quod ob promissum ita laetabar ut nunquam alias 
vehementius. Suspicabar enim (ignosce injustae suspicion!) 
me ex memoria tua prope effiuxisse et desperabam a te episto- 
lam accipere, nisi te primus ad scribendum provocarem. 
Interea perlatae sunt ad me binae tuae expectatissimse liters; 
quibus accesserunt carmina quatuordecim, non tantum verb 
lyrica, sed digna quae aurae lyrae succinantur: quod vero me 
idoneum putas qui de iis judicium feram, tantum sand glorior, 
quantum abest ut me tali honore digner; sed utut se res 
habeat, omnia cum notis meis qualibuscunque ad te tunc re- 
mittam post acceptum adhasce literas responsum: nolo enim, 
tarn belle exaratas chartulas, tabellariis committere, quorum 
nondum sit certa, atque explorata fides. 

Decimo quarto ut opinor die, haec accipies, quibus amabb 
respondere ne cuncteris; ac tibi persuadeas nihil mihi jucun- 
dius fieri posse, quam tuarum quicquid sit literarum. Per- 
contaberis forsan quibus me oblectaverim studiis, post tuum 
ex patria mea discessum. Hsec ut denarrem paucis te mora- 
bor. Inter alias occupationes, librum meum de poesi Asiatica 


16 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


perpolivi, quem ad te mittere cum meditarer, ideoque accu- 
ratius rescribere cepissem, ecce! majus quoddam intervenit 
negotium. Rex Danise, laudandse indolis adolescens, qui eo 
tempore in regia, Londinensi habitabat, me (nescio qua fama 
sibi notum) accessiri jubqt: ostendit codicem Persicum, satis 
amplum, qui vitam ac res gestae celeberrimi illius tyranni 
Nadir shah dicti, contineret; ait se percupere librum ilium 
Gallice, ad verbum redditum videre ; alia addit comics quam 
verius. Quid multa? Opus sum arduum aggressus, quod me 
per majorem anni jam elapsi partem occupatam distinuit, his- 
toriam in sex libros divisam dicendi genere Asiatico, fide 
reddidi; accedunt notulae qusedam necessariae, et de poetis 
quos Asia tulerat, brevis dissertatio, cui unum atque alterum 
Hafezi carmen adjeci, plenum scio erroribus, sed iis quibus 
ignoscent docti, et qui indoctos latebunt. Haec omnia vix 
dum ad umbilicum perduxeram, cum discipuli mei (qui tui 
semper memor est,) sororula, morbo QS-tnxa correpta repente 
sit, statueritque pater ejus cum familia vel in Italia vel in 
Gallia Transalpine hyemare. Coactus igitur sum historiam 
meam (quam in lucem proferri rex voluit) Galli cujusdam 
satis fidi curae, committere, qui excursoris errores corrigeret. 
Is me nuperrime certiorem fecit, librum jam esse excusum, 
et curabo eum ne ad regem quidem ipsum citifis quam ad te 
mittendum. Patriam itaque meam reliqui, et post nimis 
longam Lutetiis commorationem, Lugdunum versus iter 
fecimus, velocissimo Rhodani fluvio devecti, et Massiliam, 
Forum Julii, atque Antipolim praetergressi, hac regione veni- 
mus: 

Ver ubi purpureum gemmis ridentibus hortos 

Pingit, et a pratis exulat acris hyems. 

Diutius tamen hie quam vellem, commorabimus ; sed puto 
nos ad Calendas Junias in Angliam reversuros. Meditor 
equidem, si qua sese obtulerit occasio, circiter Idus Februa- 
rias Liburnum navigare, et cum Florentiarn celebrem illara 
Triumvirorum coloniam, et renascentium literarum cunas, 
turn Romam laudatarum artium omnium procreatricem, et 
fortasse Neapolim visere. Quidquid de ista navigatione 


17 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

tione statuero certior fies. Si roges quomodo me hie oblec- 
tem, haud multis respondeo. Quidquid habet musicorum ars 
teaerum ac molle, quidquid mathesis difFicile ac reconditum, 
quidquid denique elatum aut venustum, vel poesis vel pictura, 
in eo omni, sensus meos et cogitationes defigo. Nec rei mili- 
taris notitiam negligo, qua vir Britannus sine summo oppro- 
brio carere neutiquam potest. Multa patria sermone scripsi; 
inter alia, libellum de recta juventutis institutione, more 
Aristoteleo, hoc est, avxXvrutu, Pr&terea tragcediam contexere 
institui, quam inscripsi Soliman, cujus, ut scis, amabilissimus 
filius per novercae insidias miserrime trucidatus est; Eplena 
est tenerorum affectuum fabula, et cothurno dEschyleo elatior, 
utpote quae imaginibus Asiaticis sit abundantissima. Mitto 
tibi carmina duo, unum ex Hafizio depromptum alterum £ 
poeta Arabo perantiquo sumptum, in hoc tamen imagines ad 
Roraanam consuetudinem aptavi. Mitto insuper, ne quae pars 
paginae otietur, epigramma Graecum, quo cantiunculam Angli, 
cam sum imitatus. Vale, et schedas tuas tunc expecta ciim te 
has literas accepisse certior factus fuero. 


No. XII. 

JONES!US N. HALHEDO, S. 

Jucundae mihi fuerunt literulae tuae, quibus id perspex- 
erim, quod maxime vellem, nempe te haud ignorare quanta 
sit mea in te, ac tui similes, benevolentia. Misi protinus, ut 
petebas, ad amicos meos literas, quibus eos etiam atque etiam 
sum hortatus, ut causae perinde faverent tuae, ac si esset mea. 
Quod si petentibus nobis morem gesserint, et mihi certe; fece- 
rint pergratum, et sibi ipsis non inutile, quippe meae erga illos 
voluntati magnus accedet cumulus. Majori tamen, opinor, fructu 
negotium tuum potero promovere, cum in Britanniam rediero; 
ac tibi velim sit persuasissimum nulla unquam in re studium 
meum atque amorem roganti tibi aut deesse aut defore. Quod 
ad valetudinem meam attinet, belle habeo; sed oblectationibus 
careo iis, quarum desiderium nequeo non moleste ferre. Cum 
primum hue venerim, visu gratissimse erant e» res, quas in 

c 


18 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


patria nostra, raro, aut ne raro quidem, videmus, olivae, myr- 
tus, mala aurea, palmae, vineta, aromata, et in media hyeme 
florum suavissimorum copia. Sed amota tandem ea, quam no- 
vitas secum affert, jucunditate fastidium quoddam subest ac 
satietas. A mari Ligustico vix triginta passus distat diverso- 
rioli mei fenestra, sed ut pulcre Ovidius. 

Una est immensi cserula forma maris. 

Nihil itaque restat aliud, nisi ut cum M. Tullio fluctus 
numerem, vel cum Archymede atque Archvta arenas metiar. 
Credibile non est, quantum me hujusce loci tsedeat, quantum- 
que Oxonii esse cupiam, ubi vel tecum jocari, vel cum Poro 
philosophari possim. Velim si non molestum erit, ad me ssepius 
scribas; nam et tu quid agas, et quid a nostris agatur certior fieri 
cupio; sed Latine, si placet scribas, et hilare, amovenda est enim 
ea qua angi videris tristitia. [Me ama, quemadmodum ego te: 
humanioribus literis da operam, ut soles ; musas cole ; phiio- 
sophiam venerare; multa scribe die, multa noctibus : ita 
tamen ut valetudinem tuam cures diligenter. VTale. 

Datse Calendis Martiis Anno 1770, 

Niceese Ligurum. 


No. XIII. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Niccece Ligurum , Datce 7 Calend. April . Anno 1770. 

Credibile non est, quantum tuo angar silentio, aut enim, 
quod fieri nolim, literas meas 4 Calend. Febr. datas non 
accepisti, aut quod erit injucundius, tuurn ad me responsum, 
in itinere excidit, aut denique, quod suspicari nefas est, tu& 
penitus effiuxi memoria. Scripsi ad te ex hac regione literas, 
non (ut de suis ad Lucceium ait Cicero) valde bellas, sed eas 
tamen, quas tibi, satis gratas fore putabam, utpote quae et bene 
perlongse essent, et multa de meis rebus continerent. Post 
debitunl temporis intervailum responsum tuum* cupide expec- 
tabam; quotidie rogitabam, num quse a VindobonS. literae? 



19 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

NuIIae : idem alio die atque alio atque alio rogabam : nullse. 
Solicitus esse caepi, et mea indies vehementius augebatur ex- 
pec tatio : nullae adhuc literae! et duo prope jam elapsi sunt 
menses, sed nihil ahs te literarum. Ecquid aded faciam? Ec- 
quid capiam consilii ? chartulas tuas (quas ad te remittendas 
volebas) vereor incertis tabellariis committere, tu iis interea 
baud facile cares ; casterum, licet eas, ante acceptum a te res- 
ponsum remittere nequeam, notas tamen meas hie subjicio, 
quas si minus placent, in ignem conjice, sunt ut velle videbaris, 
omnino aristarchicse et forsan morosae nimis. Libellus tuus, 
de re militari Turcarum oppido me delectabat; nihil eo vel 
utilius, et ad tempora accommodatius esse potest. Cum dubi- 
um sit, an ftaec ad te perventura sit epistola, breviloquens esse 
cogor, ne prorsus cum ventis colloquar, et bonas boras inaniter 
consumam. Huic urbi circiter Idus Apriles vale dicam: iter 
Italicum, quod meditabar, in aliud tempus distuli. Vale, mi 
Carole, et mei memor sis, ut ego semper tui ; cum in Britan- 
niam rediero, longiores et hilariores a me literas frequenter 
accipies. 


No. XIV. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Tametsi prius ex hoc loco decedere statui, quam abs te 
Tesponsum accipere potero, occasionem ad te scribendi prae- 
termittere, nec volo nec debeo. Valdetibi assentior (ut in aliis 
omnibus) peregrinandi dulcedinem laudanti: nihil unquam aut 
utilius autumavi, aut jucundius. Quanto mihi gratior esset 
peregrinatio mea, si mihi Vindobonam visere liceret ubi 
tecum colloqui, tecum philosophari, tecum in loco desipere, 
tecum poeseos reconditas gemmas eruere possem. Bum ea 
felicitate careo, jure quodam meo de cseteris, quibus abundo 
voluptatibus, male loquor. Displicet Gallorum hilaritas odiosa; 
et obscurum quiddam habet coeli Italic! placida serenitas. 
Aded mei amans sum (hoc est, aded sum amens) ut me bene- 
volentia tua digniorem esse putem quam antehac. Nescis 
quantum ab illo muter quern in Anglia vidisti. Fui acloles- 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


20 

cens, fui imprudentior; nunc me totum humanioribus Musts 
devoveo; et nihil vehementer peto preeter Virtutem, qua nihil 
divinius, Gloriam, qua nihil mortali pretiosius, ac tuam deni- 
que amicitiam qua nihil dulcius esse potest. Ne literee meee 
prorsus illiteratae sint, ecce tibi epigramma quod nocte quadam 
serena fecerat amicus quidam. meus, et quod ejus rogatu, 
Greece verti. Tibi ut opinor placebit; nam ad Meleagri et 
aliorum in Anthologia poetarum mentem videtur accedere. 
At^ctfxctiy &c. 

No. XV. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Id. Quintil. 1770. 

Nee ego levis homo sum atque incertus! Totam Euro- 
pam transvolo, nullibi diu commoror ; in Liguria hyemavi, 
in Gallia, verno tempore fruebar: Germaniee finibus eestatem 
ago ; si modo sestas vocari potest pluviosa heecce et ingrata 
tempestas. Possum certe ab hoc loco chartulas tuas, sine 
metu, ad te remittere, ac te majorem in modum hortor, ne 
cuncteris eas in lucem proferre'. Dignae sunt, et tuo judicio, 
et doctorum omnium laudibus. Hoc dico sine blanditiis, quas 
a me procul habeo. Notee meee, quas accepisti, erroribus plenae 
sunt, quos velim excusas. Nam cum essem Niceeee, turn vete- 
rum libris, turn ceeteris (quibus uti soleo) adminiculis, plane 
carui, et etiam num careo. Accepi abs te literulas Gallice 
scriptas, cum oda in primis laudanda. In ea mihi perplacuit 
facilis ilia transitio: 

Sed dandae amori sunt lachrymse breves, 

Qiias sanguinis vis, quas pietas cupit. 

Mox nube abacta, Sol tenebras 
Discutiens, melius nitebit. 


Crede mihi, a iletu cum heec legerem, vix temperare potui. 
Ita enim a natura afhcior, ut magis pulchra ac tenera simpli- 
citate movear, quam elatissimis poeseos figuris;- inde fit, ut 


21 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

plus me delectent divini ilia Pindari, Ora fo w vrtQiXiae ZeVs, 
et quse sequunter, quam elaborata Aquilse et dEtnse montes 
descriptio. Ecquid adeo ad te mittam, ne prorsus immunis, 
tuo fruar munere? Ecce tibi carmen quod (si nihil aliud) com- 
mendat certe vetustas. Ridebis : non est illud quidem, in 
Antonise Delphinse nuptias ; immo laudes continet principis 
antiquissimi Sinensis, cujus nomen e memoria excidit; scio 
t*.ovo<rvxxoi€o)> esse. Cum opera Confucii a Coupletio aliisque 
reddita perlegerim, non potui non demirari cum venerabilem 
sententiarum dignitatem, turn et'iam varias carminum reli- 
quias, quibus ornantur philosophi illius colloquia. Carmina 
ea ex vetustissimis poeseos Sinicae monumentis excerpta sunt, 
ac prsecipu^ a libro Xi-kim dicto, cujus in regis Gallise biblio¬ 
theca nitidum extat exemplar. Statim mihi in animo erat, 
verba Sinica inspicere ; codicem manu sumpsi, et post lon- 
gum studium, odam unam cum versione Coupletii comparare 
potui, atque adeo singulas voces, seu potius figuras, ad avaxvrtv 
quandam reducere. Hanc igitur odam ad te mitto, ad verbum 
redditam. Mirifica est in ea cum majestate conjuncta brevi- 
tas : singuli versiculi quatuor tantum constant vocibus. Unde 
lit ut exxei^etf in iis sunt frequentissimse, quse carmen eo subli- 
mius reddunt, quo obscurius. Addidi versionem poeticam, 
qua unumquemque versum ad Confusii mentem exposui; lucu- 
lente necne minus laboro ; tu modo judica; satis habeo si tibi 
arrideat. Minime te latet, phiiosophum istum, quern Plato- 
nem Sinicum appellate audeo, circiter sexcentenos ante Chris¬ 
tum annos floruisse; is autem hanc odam citat, tanquam suis 
temporibus perantiquam ; est igitur pretiosse vetustatis quasi 
gemma, quse ostendit, in omni tempore apud omnes populos, 
eandem esse poeseos vim, easdem imagines. Restat aliud 
opus, de quo loquar necesse est; ne forte literse mese perlongse 
4 Calend. Febr. datse exciderint, in quibus totam rem ab initio, 
denarravi. Vitam dico tyranni Persici Nadir Shah, quam e 
codice Asiatico Gallice versam edidi ; opus ingratum perfecti 
rogatu regis Danise Augusti mei, quern magnam Europse spem 
haud dubito affirmare. Is mihi in primis jussit ut opus fide et 
pene religiose redderem, ut notas adjicerem necessarias, ut 
denique brevem de poesi Persarum dissertationem operi sub- 


22 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


jungerem. Pensum meum ut potui nec sine fastidio persolvi, 
sed ita festinanter ac propere (rex enim me identidem ut fes- 
tinarem urgebat) ut liber sit erroribus plenissimus, et prseser- 
tim dissertatio de poesi, in qua decern Hafizi Odas vertere 
ausus sum, nec exemplari correcto (licet splendidissimo) nec 
ullo omnino usus commentario. Scripsi at Rivestium Anglise 
vicarium, eumque rogavi ut ad te librum celeriter mitterit, 
quod spero facturum. Ignosce, am abo te, erroribus quos vitare 
forsan in summa otii copi<* non possem, nedum in iis tem- 
poris angustiis. Ignosce si duas Odas quas ad me misisti 

% caeteris adjecerim, cum Gallica 
solummodo versione. Ignosce, si de amico meo, arnica ut 
par est, incident mentio, regem enim meum scire volui quanti 
te faciam. Ad caetera benevolentiae tuse indicia, haud parum 
accedet ponderis, si errores meos in hoc libro notare vel^s, 
prsecipue in dissertatione, quam separato volumine edere 
statui. Rex Daniae, ut accepi, opus meum vehementer probat, 
et mihi honores nescio quos meditatur; cogitanti enim illi, 
quonam me compensaret munere, dixit amicus quidam meus, 
ver nobilissimus, me pecuniam nec desiderare, nec magni 
facere, sed honoris ut rebatur esse appentem. 

Libellum tuum de Turcarum re militari ad regem mitten- 
dum curavi; turn quia eo lectore dignus est, turn quia te habet 
auctorem. Cave credas, me Uteris hisce fmem dedisse quia 
nihil aliud habeo quod dicam; afhuit enim animus meus rerum 
copia, et mihi longe didicilius est, styli impetum temperare, 
quam scribendi materiem invenire. Sed nolo patientia tua 
usque adeb abuti ut aures tuas nimia loquacitate defatigem. 
Valetudinem tuam si me amas cura. 


No. XVI. 

REVICZKI a Mons. JONES. 

Vienne , ce 9 Aoitt , 1770. 
En verite, Monsieur, vous n’etes pas fort a plaindre de 
ce changement continue! de climats et de lieux ou vous dites 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


23 


etre engage depuls un an entier. C’est le plus grand bien, a 
mon avis, qui puisse arriver a un homme qui d’ailleurs a toutes 
les dispositions pour voyager; vous avez passe les rigueurs de 
l’hiver sous un ciel doux et tempere en Italic, le printems en 
France et en Angleterre; il vous reste a passer l’eteaux con- 
fins de PAllemagne, dans un endroit qui est le rendezvous 
general de toute PEurope', et oii Pon voit, d’un coup d’ceil, tant 
de differentes nations assemblies; cela n’est-il pas charmant? 
ou n’est-ce pas U la partie essentielle des voyages, ccv&pa- 

7T6)V 'yMOiVCCt V009. 

Je sens pourtant combien un homme de lettres peut s’y 
trouver manquer de secours, et de commodites pour pousser 
ses etudes, et cela seul peut diminuer en partie le plaisir qu’on 
a de voyager. Je vous suis tr s oblige de la bonte que vous 
avez eu de m’envoyer cette piece de votre fa$on, qui me pa¬ 
re it tres rare dans son genre; mais, de grace, depuis quand 
avez vous fait Pacquisition de la langue Chinoise? c’est un 
talent que je ne vuas connoissois pas encore; mais vous ne 
mettez point de bornes a votre polyglottie. J’en suis d’autant 
plus char me que je pourrois au moins compter sur la lidelite 
d’une seule traduction de cette langue, le peu que nous en 
avons me paroissant fort suspect; votre piece a outre le merite 
de Pantiquite, celui de l’elegance de la version. J’attends 
avec impatience la vie de Chah Nadir, et je vous fais mes 
remercimens pour Pattention que vous avez eu pour moi en 
chargeant le sous-secretaire d’etat de me faire tenir un exem- 
plaire; je ne suis pas moins curieux de lire ce que vous y avez 
ajoute sur la poesie des Orienteaux. 

Vous ttes bien bon, Monsieur, de soumettre votre ouvrage 
a mon jugement; vous savez combien peu vous risquez, et 
vous etes bien sC.r d’entrainer mon foible suffrage. J’y trou- 
verai pourtant une faute que n’est pas meme leg're; a savoir, 
la mention honorable que vous y avez fait de moi, qui l’ai 
merite si peu, et qui l’aurois du moins tache de meriter, si 
j’avois pu m’y attendre. li y a cette fois-ci quelques dames et 
cavaliers d’ici t Spa, qui tons ensemble valent bien la peine 
d’etre connus. On me dit que milady Spencer est Pamie in¬ 
time de la princesse Esterhazy; vous connoitrez par son 


24 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


moyen un aimable et respectable dame, et qui fait grand cas. 
des gens de merite. 

Je n’ai rien a vous envoyer presentiment qui vaille la 
peine: je me reserve ce plaisir pour une autre occasion, et suis 
en attendant avec tout le respect et veneration. 

Votre trcs-humble serviteur, 

REVICZKI. 


No. XVII. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Vienna ?, 16 Octobris , 1770. 

Etsi nihil certi constare possit ex novissimis tuis literis 
quo terrarum concesseris ex Thermis Spadanis, tamen ex hoc 
ipso silentio arguo te inprsesentiarum Londini commorari. 
Opinionem meam corroborat tarda literarum tuarum perceptio, 
nam toto illo tempore quo in Hungariam divertens, hinc abe- 
ram, epistola tarn exoptata frustratus fui, nec nisi in reditu dia 
jam hserentem ac pene obsoletam deprendi. Utinam eveniat 
quod tantopere concupiscere videris, quodve mihi summo 
gaudio foret; ut nempe post tot exantlata itinera Vindobonam 
tibi visere liceat. Leves et frivoli Galli, molles et enervati Itali, 
torpidi fortasse & morosi Germani, sed nec sic aspernandi, 
utpote qui pro elegantioribus naturae dotibus solidiores nacti, 
candore, et innataquadam honestate advenarum animos devin- 
ciunt. Mea quidem nihil interest hoc de Germanis testimo¬ 
nium adhibere: namque in Germania non secus ac nuper in 
Anglia peregrinus versor; et nemo nisi rerum ac locorum 
ignarus, Hungaros Germanis adnumeraverit, adeo genio, lin¬ 
gua, moribus, ac natura ipsa inter se dissidentes: sed fatenda 
est ingenue veritas, neque diffiteor me hie locorum satis ad 
nutum vitam agere. Tu qui sequus rerum estimator es, facile, 
utopinor, in eandem sententiam abibis, idemque de hocpopulo 
judicium tuleris. Oppide te immutatum dicis; ideoque te mihi 
magis placiturum speras quod, sepositis juvenilis £etatis oblec- 
tamentis, totum te literis et virtutis studio addixeris; at ego 
te talem revidere malo, qualem in Anglia cognitum admiratus 


25 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

sum, nec vicli quidquam quod reprehendere possem. In eo 
autem vel maxima te suspexi, quod severissimas disciplinas & 
summum in literas ardorem, tam scite lusibus et voluptatibus 
temperare noveris. Cave ne ita te studiis immergas, ne vitse 
gaudia, parum per se duratura, praetermittas, quibus tanta 
cum literis est affinitas, ut iis nemo nisi sapiens et eruditus, 
reetc frui censendus sit. Cave etiam ne idem tibi eveniat in 
provectiori aetate conqueri quod adolescenti illi Horatiano, 
dicenti: 

» 

Qiise mens est hodie cur eadem non puero fuit ? 

Aut car his animis incolumesnon redeunt genae ? 

Quod autem Musas pudicas et uvcc^o^rx^ esse aiunt, id fabu- 
losum plane et soli fictioni conveniens est; nam etipss ecarmina 
jacere inter molles pulvillos amant....Jzm ad alia digredior.... 
Versionem tuam libri Persici, quam jam alias pollicitus eras, 
immo etiam misisse significaveras, hucusque non vidi, neque 
cur nondum appulerit intelligo, ac proinde obsecro, ut ubi 
deliteat investiges. Carmen Anglicum venustissimumejusque 
duplicem ac elegantissimam metaphrasim magna cum delec- 
tatione legi atque etiam relegi; miror autem quod tam parum 
contentus esse videaris Latina, quae mihi mire placet. 


No. XVIII. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO. S. 

Londini , 11 Non . Mart. Anno 1771. 

Dii Deaeque perdant to\>$ Ik tSi u7rop^Tav nostros, qui 
mihi per hos sex menses polliciti sint, se complures meos 
libellos ac literas ad te missuros, quod eos necdum fecisse 
video, nec statim facturos arbitror; aiunt se occasionem non¬ 
dum habuisse, et propter belli Ilispanici suspicionem (quaejam 
nulla est) diutinis impediri negotiis. Nequeo tamen a me im- 
petrare quin ad te scribam; multa enim dicenda habeo; quam 
vellem coram! Jam inde 1 reditu meo in Britanniam per- 
magnl curarum varietate sum quasi irretitus: circumstant 
amici, sodales, propinqui ; hortantur ut poesin et literas 


26 * LETTERS TO AND FROM 

Asiaticas aliquantisper in'‘exilium ire jubeam, ut eloquentise 
et juris studio navem operam, ut in fori cancellis spatiar, ut 
uno verbo actor causarum, et ambitionis cultor fiam. Equidem 
iis haud segre morem gessi, etenim solus per forenses occupa- 
tiones ad primos patriae mese honores aperitur aditus. Mirum 
est quam sim cpi^on-ovo^, Ecce me adeu oratorem. 

Erunt posthac literae meae zroXtrocaTeputy et si velit fortuna ut 
ad capessendam rempublicam aliquando aggrediar, tu mihi 
eris alter Atticus, tu mihi consiliorum omnium, tu mihi arca- 
norum particeps. Noli tamen putare me omnino mansuetiores 
literas negligere: poemata quaedam patrio sermone scripta in 
lucem prope-diem edere statui; tragcediam Soliman dictam in 
theatrum tunc adducam, cum histriones invenero dignos, qui 
earn agant: praeterea poema epicum ingentis argumenti (cui 
Britanneis nomen) contexere institui; sed illud sane eousque 
differam donee mihi otii quiddam, cum aliqua dignitate junc- 
tum, concedatur. Interea bellissimos lego poetas Persicos; 
habeo' codicum manuscriptorum lautam copiam, partim a me 
coemptam, partim mihi commodatam; inter eos complures 
sunt historici, philosophi, et poetae magni apud Persas nominis. 
Poema Jamii quod Yusuf Zuleikha vocatur mihi in primis 
placet; singula disticha (quorum instar quatuor mille et 
septuaginta continet) sunt verae stellulae, mera lumina: sex 
hujus libelli pulcherrima exemplaria Oxonii habemus, quorum 
unum accurate scribitur, vocalibus insignitur, et notis Gobi 
illustratur; aliud exemplar ipse possideo, quod, si tempus 
suppetat, excudi curabo. Tu interea ecquid agis? Fergisne 
Hafizum tuum ornare, illuminare? Equidem perlibenter opem 
meam (quantula sit cunque) editioni ministrabo, si velis 
Londini librum tuum excudi ; sed vix puto quenquam 
T .vwypctQaf suis ilium sumptibus excusurum, nisi sint Hafizi 
carmina vel Anglice vel Gallice versa; nam credibile vix est 
quam pauci sint in Anglia viri mobiles qui Latine sciant. 
Suadeo itaque ut notas et versionem fidam Gallico sermone 
scribas; poteris tamen Odas abs te Latinis versibus redditas 
operi subjungere: puto etiam linguam Gallicam vestratibus 
gratiorem fore quam Latinam. Satis bene se habet nova 
Meninskii editio; novorum characterum Arabicorum speci- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 27 

men ad te mitto, in quibus si quid minus elegans videas, 
amabo te, quam primum edicas, ut citissim ■ corrigatur. Unum 
Iiafizi carmen tabula aenea incidi curavi,' et forsan (si aurum 
abundet) totum Jamii poema eodem modo incidi faciam, quod 
opus chartis sericis impressum, et ornamentis illustratum, 
arbitror Bengalse prsefecto et caeteris Indiae principibus gratum 
fore. Liber meus ad te missus ubi lateat nescio; sed aliud 
exemplar, idque nitidius et correctius ad te prima occasione 
mittam, una cum libello de Uteris Asiatieis , nuper edito, et 
Grammatica mea linguae Persicae, satis belle excuse, in qua si 
quid reperias minus accuratum, si quid omitti videatur, oro 
mihi dicas, ut in altera editione illud mutetur, hoc addatur. 
Librum de poes. Asiatica tunc in lucem proferam, cum mihi 
aliquantulum detur otii. Ne tamen putes me ea oblectamenta, 
quae tecum affert adolescentia, spernere; imo me, ut neminem, 
delectat Cantus et Saltatio, et modicus vini cyathus, et puella- 
rum (quarum est Londini festiva copia) divina pulchritudo: 
sed omnibus vitae gaudiis facile antefero illam, illam quam 
perdite amo, Gloriam; illam per aquas, illam per ignes, illam 
diebus, illam noctibus persequar. Oh! mi Carole, (liceat enim 
te, missis formulis, veteri simplicitate alloqui) quanta mihi 
sese aperit sylva! Si vitae spatium duplicetur, vix mihi satis- 
faciat, ad ea quae in ammo habeo tarn publice quam privatim 
recte perficienda. Vale! 

No. XIX. 

JONESIUS, D. E. S. 

Londini , 6 Kal. April . 1771. 

Liber iste Persicus, quem possides, gemma quavis est 
pretiosior. Ejusdem possedit exemplar tuo simillimum vir 
undequaque doctissimus Meninskius, quem suo more, hoc 
est ineieganter ac parum Latme ita describit **'.*.* 
u mmchzenul essar . Gazophylacium arcanorum aut mysterio- 
u rum, liber pretiosissimus, quippe elegantissimo in Persia 
a stylo et charactere scriptus, insignibus imaginibus distinc- 
<c tus, et vix inveniendus: atque in eodem codice libri prse- 


28 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


“ terea quinque alii continentur, * * * cltusru ve¬ 
il shirin , et * * * * Leili tvu meg'nan historic fictse 

amatoriae, tres verb reliqui morales, * * * * ^eft 

u peyker * * * * as href nam\i Iskender , et * * * 
u Tkhul nd'meh: codex est pretio 200 aureorum sestimatus.” 
Hinc de vero libri tui pretio judicare potes. Equidem alia 
qusedam subjungam, et, ut poeta, haud verebor aflirmare sex 
bellissima in hoc libro poemata, magis ob poeseos pulchritudi- 
nem, qUam ob scrlpturse elegantiam, et imaginum nitidos 
colores, esse pretiosa. Auctor fuit percelebratus ilie Nezami, 
cui agnomen Kenjuvi, qui sub finem sssculi duodecimi iegi 
Thogrul Ben Erslan, illustri bellatori et literarum fautori, 
deliciis erat. Liber quinque complectitur poemata, quorum 
ultimum in partes dividitur du.cis : primum quod arcanorum 
thesaurus vocatur, multas continet fabellas et multa colloquia 
de hominum ofhciis ac rebus humanis; in ilio ssepe inducitur 
rex Persarum celeberrimus Nushirvan, qui, sub finem sseculi 
sexti, contra Justinum primum, et Justinianum, feliciter bella- 
vit: illo regnante natus est Arabum legislator Mohammedes, 
qui ilium ob justitiam, in Alcorano collaudat; ilium poetse 
Persici Sadiy Hafez, Jami, aliique perpetuo laudant. 

* t- * ’ * $ * 

“ Nomen Nushirvan fortunatum ob justitiam vivit, licet 
“ multum elapsum sit temporis,per quod Nushirvan ipse non 
u amplius manet.” Secundum poema juvenis . amabilissimi 
Meg’nun seu ameniis ita ob araorem insanum dicti, et Leilae 
puicherrimse puellse vitas continet. Tertium amores complec* 
titur regis Khosrois e Sassaniorum familia vicesimi tertii 
Nushirvani nepocis, et formosissimse virginis Shirinse seu 
Duicis. Quantum septem fgvrcc nominatur, et regis Beharam, 
quern Grseci inepte, ut solent, Varanam appellant, historiam 
narrat; prsecipue vero septem illius palatia describit, quorum 
unumquodque diversum a cseteris colorem habuisse dicitur. 
Quintum Alexandri. vitam, ac res gestas denarrat ; verum 
enimvero sciendum est, Asiaticos omnes regem Macedonum 
a perantiquo regi Se-cander dicto non distinguere, sed ambo- 


SIR WILLIAM JONLS. 29 

rum facta ridicule commiscere. Hsec habeo quae de libro tuo 
dicam, non conjectura fretus, sed certe sciens me vera dicere. 
Laetor admodum collegium Sti. Johannis Cantabrigiensi hunc 
thesaurum, te donante, possessurum: ac spero in Academia 
vestra aliquos futuros, qui poetae venustissimi Nezami elegan- 
tias poterit animo comprehendere. Si quis pleniorem poetae 
hujusce notitiam habere velii, consulat oportet librum jucun- 
dum cui nomen vitae poetarum Persicorum auctore Deulet- 
shah Samarcandio, cujus vidi Lutetiis pulcherrimum exem¬ 
plar.... Vale ! 

No. XX. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Vienna ?, die 10 Octobris , 177i. 

Jam prope annus est elapsus, a quo occasionem praesto- 
lor, qua libellum, te probante, in lueem emissum, ad te mitte- 
rem, quin ullam hactenus potuerim adipisci: nunc demum 
opportune evenit discessus in Angliam viri amicissimi m in) 
ra v Britannias legationis, qui mihi ofncium suirni 

sponte obtulit, et opus hoc meum , aut si mavis tuum ad te de- 
ferri curare esthumanissime pollicitus. Eademiideliacuperera 
etiam gratum animum, pro transmisso mihi munere, contes- 
tari, sed grates persolvere dignas non opis est nostrae, sat erit 
tua dicere facta. Oppido miratus sum studium et doctrinam 
ac vel maxime diligentiam in triplici opere quo mihi gratifi- 
catus es, sed erubui laudibus quas mihi intemperanter prodi- 
gis. Multum sane tibi lkene et litemti omnes debere fatebun^ 
tur, si eandem deinceps, quam cGepisti, Orientalibus literis 
operam navaveris. Scire percuperem quo honore remuneratus 
sit virtutem et laborem tuum rex Daniae, aut illo auctore 
rex Angliae, ut tibi et bonis omnibus, qui te aequj ac ego, 
diligunt, gratari possim, utque nobile tuum ingenium condign^ 
pvcemiatum laetai'i valeam....Vale! 


30 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


No. XXL 

JONESiUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Oxonii vii. Id . Decembres , 17$1. 

Abs te per hos menses (imo potius annos) tredecim, ne 
literulae quidem ! Binas equidem ad te literas miseram, unas 
Non. Mart. Latins scriptas et bene longas, alteras Gallice 
exaratas currently quod aiunt, stylo. In iis quid egerim, quid 
agere meditarer, in quo vitae cursu essem, ad quas dignitates 
aspiraret ambitio mea, feci te diligentissime certiorem. Libros 
meos quatuor, ut opinor, accepisti, quos D. Whitchurch, 
legato Anglico <5 i» run Ugoo v , secum, meo rogatu, Vindobo- 
nam tulit. Ilium, adolescentem bonae indolis, et literarum 
peramantem, dignum esse scito quem utaris famiiiarite.r. 
Hocce literarum ad te afFerat D. Drummond, homo literatus, 
quem medicae artis studium, quod in hac insula non te latet 
esse perhonorificum, istluc proficisci incitavit, secundum Ho- 
mericum iilud, ’Ijj rpog uv^p 7roXXav uXXav, 

Eos velim ita tractes, ut sciant meam commendationem 
apud te plurimum valere. Accipies eodem tempore oratiun- 
culam quandam meam, in pulchellum nescio quem, terrse 
filium, qui Academiae nostrae conviciari ausus est; non im- 
pune, ut videbis, si quid apud istiusmodi vappam ac nebulonem 
valeat mucro orationis meae. Conturbavi (ut ait Cicero, de 
suis Commentariis) Gallicam nationem. Quid agit Hafez, 
deliciolae nostrae? Nunquamne carmina ilia suavissima, te 
interprets, prodibunt in lucem? Placetne tibi versio mea An- 
glica, carminis istius Eg her an TurkiP Nostratibus certe qui¬ 
dem non displicet. Veljem piures alias Anglic^ vertere, sed 
otium non suppetit. Neminem adhuc inveni, qui libellum 
tuum de re militari reddere dign.e posset. Praefatio tua 
omnibus et docta et elegans videtur; sed opus (quod tute ais 
in procemio) titulo Osulul hikm ft nezamP liimem aiunt non re* 
spondere. Ejusdem libri vrparorvTrov Turcica scriptum (cum 
'cseteris Constantinopoli excusis, et bellissimo carminum Me- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 31 

sihii exemplare) in bibliotheca Regiae^nostrse Societatis vidi. 
Cupio scire nura facile sit omnes eos libros quos laudas, ab 
Ibrahimo editos, vel in Germania, vel in Thracia, aut Hun- 
garia emere; quod si fieri posset, illorum compos esse per- 
vellem. Ecquidnam de Turcis novi? f^etv s'lpqvin outsit x 
Equidem simul ac de belli Russici exitu certior factus fuero, 
legationem Turcicam aperte petere constitui; nunc occulte et 
susurratim. Rex optime in me affectus;, optimates satis bene- 
voli; mercatorum societas admodum mihi favet: illud solum 
vereor, ne quis competitor potentrpr in scenam prodeat, et me 
cursu praevertat. Si petitio feliciter evaserit, dii boni, <£* 
Keflocvsttvieuo-opcci; primum, tuo Vindobonae fruar colloquio; dein 
literis Asiaticis madebo; Turcarum mores ex abditissimis 
fontibus exhauriam....sin aliud contigerit, qtXoroQtfleov. Erit 
forum; non deerunt, ut spero, causae; erit litium plena messis; 
restabit eloquentiae studium; restabit poesis, historia, philo- 
sophia, quarum singulis recte colendisvita nostra haecce hu- 
mana ocrai wv £<rp,$t vix sufficiet. Multa alia habeo quae 
dicam, sed me imperiosa trahit....non Proserpina , ut spero, at 
si qua est fori ac judiciorum fautrix Dea. Longiores literas 
expecta: tu interea ad me quam longissimas mitte. Te unice 
ac fraterne diligimus....Vale! 

No. XXII. 

JONESIUS ROBERTO ORME, S. 

IV. Id. Apr lies. Anno 1772. 

Quanta cum voluptate^ quantaque admiratione tui, his¬ 
torian! de bello Indico legerim, faciiius possum anim6 com- 
plecti, quam verbis enarrare: ita enim dilucide abs te consilia, 
res gestae, et rerum eventus declarantur, ut iis profecto, dum 
legebam, non mente solum sed re interesse, non tarn lector, 
quam auctor esse, visus sim. In primis mihi placebant vitae 
ac naturae hominum, aut rerum gestarum gloria, aut sapientiae 
laude florentium, abs te declaratae; nec minorem narration! 
venustatem afferunt, locorum insignium descriptiones, velut 
ilia Gangis fluvii plane graphica; et sane animadvert! non 


32 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


mocD poetas, sed pollitiores omnium fere eetatum historicos in 
fluviis describendis baud parum artis ac sfudii posuisse: sic 
Acheloum Thucydides, Teleboam Xenophon, describit, 
uterque suo in genere egregie, sed hie, ut semper, venuste ac 
breviter, ille, ut ssepius, elate atque horriduk. Ad genus 
dicendi quod attinet, si elegantia et in verbis constet, et in 
verborum collocatipne, quam elegans oratio sit oportet tua, in 
qua verba lectissima, semperque apta ad id, quod significant, 
ordine puicherrimo collocantur, quae laus est in scribendo 
prop** maxima. Qu'd si historic tuse partem alteram, quee a 
te jamdudum flagitatur, in lucem protuleris, ciim bonis omni¬ 
bus ac tui similibus gratum feceris, turn nominis tui famam 
latiiis diflFuderis: nec justum videtur ornari abs te ac celebrari 
regionem Coromandelicam, si negligatur ea, quam rexquidam 
Indicus, delicias terrarum vocitabat, Bengala....\ ale! 

No. XXIIL 

JONESIUS F. P. BAYER HISPANO, S. 

Prid. Cal. Mart. An. 1 774*. 

Libelli tui de Phamicum Lingua, et Coloniis , qui dubito 
doctiorne sit an jucundior, bellissimum exemplum accepi; et 
quanquam vereor, ne aurea ameis, tanquam Homericus ille 
Diomedes, permutare videar, mitto tamen ad te, in grati scili¬ 
cet animi testimonium, commentaries meos poesfeos Asiaticae, 
qui sitibi arriserint, idscito magnse mihi voluptati fore....Vale! 

No. XXIV. 

JONESIUS H. A. SCIIULTENS, S. 

Id. JuL An. ITT4. 

Adolescentulum sunifnS, modestia, diligentia, virtute 
preeditum, cui nomen Campbell,, quique ad te hoc literularum 
pertulerit, majorem in modum tibi commendo. Is in India 
mercaturam. facturus est; sed priusquam longam istam et 
molestam navigationem susceperit, sermonibus quibusdam 


33 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Europaeis atque Asiaticis, et ex his praecipue Persico, addis- 
cendia, operam est daturas. Quantum illi vel in studiis vel in 
negotiolis adjumenti afferre poteris, tantum mihi allatum 
autumavero; ipsum praeterea tibi semper devinxeris. 

Quid agit Hariri us noster? Ecquando abs te ornatus pro¬ 
dibit in lucem? Nos in foro tempus consumimus; quidquid 
otii datur, id omne legibus interpretandis historiisque legendis 
conferre cogimur. Commentarios meos ad te misi, quos te 
spero accepisse. Vale. 

No. XXV. 

H. A. SCHULTENS. 

* * * * * * 

Quoties, amicissime Jones, fortunati ejus temporis, quod 
in beata vestra insula transegi, subit memoria, toties animum 
sentio miro quodam voluptatis sensu perfundi, a gratissima 
recordatione jucundae tuae atque utilissimae, qua frui mihi licuit, 
consuetudinis. Simul vero tui desiderium tarn vehementer 
excitatur, ut absentiam tuam feram aegerrime. Quam animi 
aegritudinem sin minus tollere, at lenire potest dulce episto- 
larum commercium. Et revera non illud tempus inde a reditu 
in patriam effluxisset, absque ut nihil prorsus de me audires, 
nisi cum ipse variis, iisque insolitis negotiis fuissem districtus; 
turn timuissem, ne studiorum tuorum molestus essem inter- 
pellator. Tollit hunc metum gratissimum, quod nuper a te 
accepi commentariorum tuorum munus, quod eo mihi gratius 
accidit, quo videre inde licuit, mei memoriam tibi nondum 
excidisse. Maximas omnino ago habeoque gratias pro terso 
illo tuo, atque elegantissimo libro, quern summa aviditate legi, 
perlegi, relegi et, ne vivam, obstupui. Simul tamen sincerus 
Musarum nostrarum amator deplorandam illarum sortem in- 
dolui, quibus in summa cultorum suorum penuria tantum virum 
eripiunt rauca fori jurgia. Ergone eas non habent venustates, 
eas gratias, ut aliis quae non nisi opes et honorum titulos dotem 
adferunt, praeferri mereantur ? Ergone non ita placet sola earum 

e 


34 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


forma, et habitus elegantissimus simul et suavissimus, ut cu£» 
tores alliciant, qui spretis aliis, perdite eas ament, iis solis se 
oblectent atque toti cum iis sint. Ignoscas, mi Jonesi, talia 
amice tecum expostulanti. 

Operis tui non nisi pauca, duo forte vel tria, exempla hue 
usque ad nos sunt delata. Fac quseso ne illorum copiam 
ulterius nobis invideat librariorum socordia. Accipies brevi 
orationem, quam hie loci habui, inauguralem de fmibus litera- 
rum Orientalium proferendis. Tumultuarie confecta non potuit 
ita elaborari ac debuisset, atque ipse vellem, modb per tempus 
licuisset. Jucundissimum, quod obeo, munus hoc solum habet 
molestise, quod nondum liceat liberc quo velim divagari, atque 
in institutionibus grammaticis lectionibus exegeticis veteris 
testamenti, et enarrandis antiquitatibus Judai'cis, tantum tem- 
poris consumere cogar, ut parum vel nihil legendis auctoribus 
Arabicis, multo minus Persicis, supersit. Sed taedium hoc eo 
libentius fero, quo, si cito devoretur, majus inde otium mihi 
brevi sit nasciturum. Et ubi semel omnem hanc lectionum 
farraginem singulis annis repetendam chartis mandavero, 
liber et mei juris potero totus his studiis incumbere. Meida- 
nensem edendum suscipere jam certum mihi est delibera- 
turnque. In editione paranda duo ad minimum lustra erunt 
impendenda. Quanta enim turn ipsius linguae, turn historiarum 
rituum et morum Orientalium cognitio ad id requiratur sine 
quibus tamen tantum opus ne conandum quidem est, ipsemet 
probe nosti. An vero hie faetus, ubi ad maturitatem pervenerit, 
obstetricantem manum facile inventurus sit * * Scheidius 

Professor Harderovicensis in edendo Gieuhario occupatur. 
Sumptus tanto operi imprimendo necessarios cum ferre non 
valeat, difficultatem hanc putat sublatum iri, si 28 fasciculos 
pro numero literarum divisos seorsim in lucem emittat, ita ut 
pecunia ex primo fasciculo, qui literam * continebit, parata 
sufficiat imprimendo * * et sic porro. 

Caeterum novi, quod ad te scribam, nihil est. Quam vellem 
tui iterum videndi copia mihi fieret. Si id in te efEcere valeat 
per glaciem currendi ardor, ut Banksium vestrum imitatus 
eum in finem hue venires, jam non adeo frigora extimesco, ut 
contra sperem intensissima, glaciesque solidissimas et diu 


35 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

duraturas. Quidquid sit, sive hyeme, sive sestate, nihil un- 
quam poterit mihi gratius accidere, quam te hospitem excipere. 
Uxor (quam ante 5 circiter menses duxi) magno flagitat de- 
siderio videndi Jonesi'um ilium, de quo maritum audit quotidie 
loquentem. Multum ea te salvere jubet, ut et pater meus, qui 
dici non potest quantopere legendis operibus tuis imprimis 
commentariis fuerit delectatus. Magno ille te honore pro¬ 
sequitur, et diligit, et colit....Tu velim scribas ad me quid 
agas; quid agant optimse illse tuse mater et soror, quas meo 
nomine plurimum quseso salutes, easque certiores reddas, 
gratissimum me animum servare et semper servaturum pro 
insigni humanitate et variis officiis, quibus me sibi devinxe- 
runt....Cseterum de me sic judices, quantum ego possim, me 
tibi, omnibusque tuis summo cum studio praesto semper futu- 
rum. Vale, mi Jonesi, meque ama. 

Scripsi Amstalaedami, 

9 Sept. 1774. 

Fere oblitus eram de principe nostro Damasceno Yuseph 
(ni fallor) * * ad te scripsisse. Valde doleo eum tarn diu 

hie latuisse, ut biduo antequam hinc Bruxellam peteret, me 
primum inviserit. Mire delectatus fui indole ejus liberali, 
generosa, et vere Arabica. Neque elegantiori doctrina vide- 
batur destitutus. Sed de his tu melius judices, quam ego.... 
Ego hominem, quamdiu vivam, amabo, cujus jucundi ser- 
mones me febri laborantem ita recrearunt et totum quasi 
occuparunt, ut pessimo morbo redire cupienti nullus locus 
superesset. 

Si velis ad me scribere, quod quaeso facias citissime, haec 
sitepistolae inscriptio; 

A Mons. Schultens, 

Professeur en Langues Orientales, 

Amsterdam. 


Accepi nuper catalogum librorum, qui apud Whitium 
venales prostant. Nisi molestum sit, gratissimum mihi feceris, 


36 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


si ipsum jubeas hos libros mihi reservare, quos brevi curabo, 
simul missa pecuniu, ut hue deferantur: 

No. 419 Elmacini Historia Saracenica....l8 Sh. 

1100 Herbelot. 3 L. 3 Sh. 

1471 Geogr. Nubiensis versio. 4 Sh. 

5909 Eutychius. 15 Sh. 

2091 Hunt, in Proverbia VII. 1 Sh. 

No. XXVI. 

JONESIUS H. A. SCHULTENS, S. 

Prid. Non . Oct. 1744. 

Gratissimas abs te literas accepi, datas V, Id. Sept, sed 
serius quam vellem mihi redditas, quod in maritima Cantii 
parte aestatem egi, et nuper admodum Londinum redii; Com- 
mentarios meos abs te et patre tuo probari, vehementer gaudeo; 
quod addis amicissime tu quidem et humanissime, aegre te ferre, 
me politioris doctrinae desertorem esse, agnosco benevolentiam 
expostulationis tuse. Sed, mi Alberte, non est integrum ; jacta 
est*alea; libri mei omnes, cum impressi turn manuscripti, praeter 
eos, qui ad jureconsulti et oratoris officium pertinent, in arc& 
Oxonii otiantur; et statui, per viginti minimum annos, nullis 
rebus, nisi aut forensibus aut politicis, operam navare. Consilii 
mei rationes longo sermone persequi, non est necessarium: 
illud sufficiet dicere, me, si Romae vixissem aut Athenis, 
oratorum et illustrium civium labores, vigilias, pericula, 
exilium, invidiam, mortem denique, vel umbris poetarum vel 
philosOphorum hortis antelaturum fuisse. Idem faciendum in 
hac Anglorum republica, quae nec Romanae nec Atheniensi 
cedit, et sentio, et a pueritia sensi, et semper sentiam. Porro 
autem, tametsi literarum politiorum venustatem facile agnosco, 
tamen valde me delectat id quod a Neoptolemo in trageedia 
dicitur, Philosophari juvat sed paucis, et illud Hippocrateum, 
‘o C/®- Gpc&xbS)n v) pocKpoi i x.oup&* Strenue denique asse- 
verabo alias esse majores artes, quae non solum fructus,sed et 
dulcissimos fructus, afferunt. Quid! Nullamne attulit animi 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 3 7 

voluptatem divina ilia Mathesis Archimedi, geometrarum 
principi, cum in theoremate demonstrando adeo intente cogi- 
tationem defixisset, ut captas esse Syracusas non sentiret? 
Quid! Ullamne remjucundioremautnobiliorem esseputemus, 
quam juris patrii unum studium, de quo velim in memoriam 
revoces quid dicant in Ciceronis, de Oratore libris, L. Crassus 
et Q. Scaevola? Quid! Existimasne Snadam illam, cujus 
medulla ab Ennio dicitur Cethegus, qui et flos populi ab 
eodem vocatur, aut Thalise aut Polyhymniae suavitatis pal- 
mam concedere? Quid! Estne aliquis qui non mallet M, 
Tullii similis esse, cujus, cum in omni vita turn in studiis, 
exemplar et quasi mihi proponam, quam aut Varronis 
eruditissimi viri, aut Lucretii, poetae ingeniosissimi? Quod si 
ver£ insuave et horridum fuisset juris nostri studium, quod 
est longe secus, tamen reprehendendus non essem, si cum 
veteribus sapientissimis, et cum ipsa sapientiae dea, Athenarum 
fautrice, Minerva, fructuosam atque utilem olivam sterili 
lauro anteponerem. Ut aperte loquar, non est mei stomachi 
nobilium virorum arrogantiam, quae a poetis et literarum cul- 
toribus devoranda est, perferre. Haec tibi amice expostulanti, 
amice respondeo; tuam autem voluntatem, egregic in me per- 
spectam et cognitam, scito mihi perjucundam esse. Orationem 
tuam avide expecto. Labores tuos omnes, et praecipue Meida- 
nense, opus bilustre, fortunet Deus! Mens sit, oro, fortis et 
con^tans doctissimo Scheidio, ut opus imitiensum quodmedi- 
tatur, Atlanteis humeris sustinere valeat. Industriam ejus, 
omni laude dignam, admiror; sed post Meninskii fatum, non 
loquor de opere, sed de ipsius miseriis, non est viri prudentis 
(et qui sibi baud sapit, nihil sapit) navem suam tam incerto 
mari, atque adeo prope naufragii periculo exponere. Rege 
dignum opus est, fateor; sed censum requirit regis. Veretibi 
gratulor, gratulantur tibi mater et soror mea, felicitate nup- 
tiarun\tuarum. Schultensiae tuae, quam amabilissimam esse 
certo scio, et patri tuo, viro optimo, salutem impertio pluri- 
mam. Gratum habeo quod me Amsteledami videre cupis; 
mihi quoque summas erit voluptati tecum in patriu tua collo- 
qui; qu;:d si tua frui liceret consuetudine, glacies vestra Hes- 
peridum hortis esset apiomior, nec ipsa Tempe adire magis 


38 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 

cuperem; sed, propter forenses occupationes, sestas mihi ad 
peregrinandum erit commodior. Polliceor tibi me vel anno 
proximo, vel post eum venturo, mense Julio aut Augusto, 
apud te perlibenter commoraturum. 

Josephum, hominem Syrum, tibi placuisse lsetor, et gaudeo 
ilium per Germaniam iter facturum esse. De illo satis longa 
esthistoria; qui, nisi ego primariis hujus civitatis vins, qui 
apud regem plurimum valeant, sedulo exorassem, Londini aut 
vixisset miserrimus, aut mortem obiisset immeritb. Libios 
quos emere voluisti, tibi reservat biliopola. Literulas ad te 
meas Idibus Juliis scriptas, quas ad te perferendas dedi ado- 
lescenti Campbello, nondum, ut arbitror, accepisti. Regis 
Hispanise filius, Gabrielis, princeps juventutis, ad me misit 
Sallustium suum splendidissime impressum. Id mihi summo 
honori duco, gratiasque„ perdiligenter egi. Audiisti sine 
dubio de Brucii, bominis Scoti, peregrinationibus in Syriam, 
Arabiam, Abyssiniam, Nubiam, iEgyptum....cui non domus 
sua nota magis est quam Rubri Maris littus et Nili fons.... 
Multos secum attulit codices iEthiopico sfermone scriptos, et 
inter alios Enocbi vaticinum, librum antiquum, sed inter 
Sibyllina volumina numerandum. 

* * * * * 

Dum hsec scribebam, venit ad me quidam qui attulit codi- 
cem, ut aiebat, manu scriptum, quern a Montacuto, nobili 
Anglo, Venetiis acceperat ut ad me perferret. Aperui librum; 
inveni bellissimum et perfectissimum Motanabii exemplar, 
cum epistola versibus Arabicis ad me scripta, ab Abderrahman 
nescio quo, quern fortasse in Asia Montacutus viderat. Gra- 
tissima est docti Arabis in me benevolentia; versus apposui; 
neutiquam me dignor tarn exaggeratis laudibus; sed nosti 
magniloquentiam Asiaticorum. Noli jam putare me Mota¬ 
nabii poemata continue perlecturum; latebunt Oxonii, cum 
cseteris istis similibus thesauris meis. Velim tibi persuadeas 
te a me plurimi fieri, nec quidquam mihi jucundius esse posse, 
quam abs te ssepissime longissimas epistolas accipere. Cura 
ut valeas, meque, ut facis, amare pergas. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES* 


39 


No. XXVII. 

JONESIUS F. P. BAYER, S. 

4 Non . Oct . 1774. 

Vix reperio quibus tibi verbis again gratias, quod Sal- 
lustii historiam chartse splendidissimse perpulchre impressam, 
et in sermonen Hispanum eleganter conversam, ad me mit- 
tendam curaveris; eodemque me, novum hominem et priva¬ 
tum, honore affeceris, quo non nisi magnos reges et illustres 
academias, antea dignatus es. Sed incipienti mihi literas ad 
te mittere, dubium omnino visum est, gratuiarerne tibi prius 
de prsestantissimo interpretationis scriptore, an gratias agerem 
quod mihi adeojucundum tui f^v^oo-wov dedisses. Auguror sane 
clarius lumen bonarum artium, ac scientiarum accessurum 
patrise tuse, in qua regius adolescens eo sit ingenio eaque doc- 
trina pneditus, ut historicorum Romanorum principem lucu- 
lenter interpretari, notisque eruditis illustrare possit. Quam 
pauci sunt in aliis regionibus juvenes primarii, qui tantum 
opus perficere aut velint si possint, aut possint fortasse, si 
velint! Saliustii gravissimum opus, sapientia et dignitate 
plenum, bene intelligere, permagnum est; apte illustrare, egre- 
gium; belle vertere, admirandum. Haec omnia si vir privatus 
effecisset, laude dignus esset; si adolescens, honore decoran- 
dus; si et juvenis et princeps juventutis, summis honoribus 
prseconii more persequendus. 

Linguae vestrae studium doctissimae complures jam annos 
intermisi; sed memini me Alonzi heroi'cum poema, Gar- 
cilassi carmina, Cervantis lepidas fabellas, magna cum volup- 
tate legisse. Nihil tamen, ita fortunate vivam, elegantius aut 
politius legi, quam Sallustii versionem; et libenter doctissimo 
auctori assentior, cum dicat in procemio, u linguam vestram ad 
u Latini sermonis gravitatem proximo accedere.” Pergat 
igitur juvenis amabilissimus cum de patria sua turn de humano 
genere bene mereri; efficiatque ut omnibus hujus sevi princi- 
pibus viris facile sit anteponendus. Si mihi liceat eloqui quod 
sentio, auctor sim ut M. Tullii fere divinis operibus quam 


40 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


diligentissime navet operam; quse neminem unquam legisse 
puto, quin legendo factus sit et eloquentior et doctior. Digna 
est admirabilis ilia ad Quintum fratrem de provincia admini- 
stranda epistola, quae ab omnibus in terrarum orbe regibus 
memoriter quotidie recitetur. Digni sunt libri de Officiis, de 
Finibus, de Quaestionibus Tusculanis, qui centies perlegantur. 
Dignae Orationes fere sexaginta quae in omnes Europae linguas 
convertantur. Nec vereor affirmare sedecim illos epistolarum 
ad Atticum libros historiis fere omnibus (Sallustio excepto) 
praestare. Quod ad tua ipsius opera attinet, liber tuus jucun- 
dissimus a me diligenter et lectus est, et legetur.... Audio te 
ejusdem versionem Latinam meditari, quam ut perficias oro, 
gentium exterarum gratia. Nihil in eo quod sit mutandum 
video, nihil quod non laudandum. Pervelim plures tuos 
antiquitatum Asiaticarum et Africanarum libros in lucem 
proferas. Ecquid harum rerum studiosis gratiusne optare 
possim? Tu interea, vir clarissime, et meo et reipublicse lite- 
rarise nomine, etiam atque etiam vale.* 

No. XXVIII. 

JONESIUS G. S. MICHAELI, S. 

Prid. Non. Novemb. 

Peto a te ne me putes libros tuos aut non legisse, aut 
lectos neglexisse. De fabulis Hebraeorum neque a te prorsus 
dissentio, nec tamen usquequaque tibi assentior. Nolui igitur, 
re nondum satis explorata et cognita, ab opinione vulgari 
recedere. Caeterum commentaries nostros abs te probari 
laetor. Quod quaeris, seribne Musas Asiaticas et politiores 
literas deseruerim, nihil scito esse verius; nec per viginti 
annos quidquam de his rebus aut scribam aut meditabor. 

* The reader will observe that the last sentence in this letter has been inaccu¬ 
rately jtranslated. The translation was made from an incorrect copy of the 
original letter, which has so many emendations in this passage, that it is scarcely 
possible to determine upon the expressions of Mr. Jones. If the sense had been 
of any importance, the English page should have been cancelled, and another, 
With a correct translation, substituted. 


41 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

Totus in foro sum, et in juris nostri studio Sa^rcey tMxot: 
tua tamen opera, teque ipsum, vir optime atque humanissime, 
plurimi semper faciam. Vale! 

No. XXIX. 

H. A. SCHULTENS JONESIO, S. 

Jan . 6, 1775. 

Etsi his diebus, quibus molesti et insoliti labores totum 
me occupation tenent, ne id quidem temporis mihi superest, 
ut de epistolis exorandis cogitare liceat, tamen non potui doc- 
tissimo Bjornstahlio nihil literarum ad te dare, cum uthaberet, 
quo optatus ipse aditus ad te patefieret; turn, ut videres, me 
tui non immemorem vivere....Jucundum tibi erit cum Sueco 
nostro Philarabe colloquium. Non tantum enim multorum 
hominum mores vidit et urbes, sed Orientales etiam literas et 
callet egregie et amat vehementer. Deliciis (non olim, ut 
scribis, sed etiam nunc) tuis addictum scio pergratum tibi futu^. 
rum...Accepi utrasque tuas literas. Priores, quas Campbello 
dederas ad me perferendas, reddidit mihi ejus avunculus 
Cunningham, Mercator h&c in urbe degens. Ipsum adoles- 
centulum nondum vidi. Missus est in ludum quendam 
aliquot milliaribus hinc dissitum. Si hue redierit, conabor, 
qu&cunque in re potero, memet utilem ei prsestare....ad alteras 
brevi respondebo. Tu interim, mi Jonesi, fac ut valeas, meque 
amare perge. Optimam tuam matrem et sororem cseterosque 
communes amicos meo nomine salutes quam plurimum.... 
Vale. • 

Dabam Amstelodami. 
vi Januarii, 1775. 

No. XXX. 

JONESIUS REVICZKIO, S. 

Dat. Londini , xiv Kal, Feb . Anno 1775 . 
Noli putare me tui oblitum, quod raras a me literas 
accepisti; neque enim habui cui recte fasciculum darem, nec 


42 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


tabellariis incertis AsV^jjvnostram familiarem volui committere. 
Nescio praeterca an hoc literularum ad te perventurum sit, et 
vereor de re qualibet apertius, ut soleo, loqui; cum tua ad me 
humanissima epistola, Varsoviae Idib. Jan. data, resignata 
mihi reddita sit, quod puto hanc nostram fore, priusquam tu 
illam recipies. Me scito infinitis in urbe et in toga occupa- 
tionibus impediri, quo minus literis dem operam. Libros edidi 
duos; quos turn demiim accipies, cum aliquem invenero, cui 
prudenter eos committam. Scribe ad me literas, amabo te: 
nihil mihi amicitia tua jucundius esse potest. Quam vellem 
aut tu hue venisses, aut ego istuc, ut una vivere possemus. 
Displicuit mihi legatio Turcica. Vivam in patria, quae bonis 
civibus haud facile caret; jamdudum enim (rccXeiei, O quam 
lsetarer, si te hue legatum videre possem: haud inviderem aut 
Europse aut Asise regibus. Tu interea, mi Reviczki, etiam 
atque etiam vale! 

No. XXXI. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Quanta sim lsetitia affectus, acceptis tuis amantissimis 
literis, facile perspicies si amorem in te meum plene cognitum 
habueris. Ego occupationibus quibus eram hactenus impe- 
ditus, frequentius hoc tanto solatio frui non potui, idque 
humanissime a te factum agnosco, ut eo tempore acciperem 
tuas literas quo non expectarem. Etsi autem tutii.s fore cre- 
diderim nequid literis committamus, quod si prolatum sit 
moleste feramus, tamen resignationem epistolse mese, de qua 
me edoces, casui potius quam studio tribuo. Non dubito quin 
occupatissimus sis, cum te forensibus exercitationibus totum 
dedideris. Qu'are non equidem jam te rogo ut ad me assidub 
scribas, sed hoc te scire volo, quod mihi ad scribendum plus 
otii quam antea contigerit, postquam exactis nuperrime bien- 
nalibus comitiis (taedio autem saecularibus) laborem pene om- 
nem exantlavi. Haec de publiciis negotiis harum partium. 
De Britannicis autem nihil cognovi ex tuis literis, sed ex aliis 
ahunde comperio quantum vog coloniarum interni motus, et 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 43 

bello extcrno difficiliores, exagitant. Me jam muneris et 
officii mei, non tam ardui quam ingrati, fastidium cepit, nec 
alia mihi consolatio est hujus ingentis molestiae, nisi quod 
spero non amplius longiorem annua fore. Nae ego essem Lon- 
dini libenter, atque utinam aliquod in ilia urbe Republics© 
meae, 5roAm»«y opus efficere, et navare mihi liceat, y-ecl *t A 
(iaXoiftoiv)tecl Ktv TreXvKtpfrtov euv, nihil sane tali provinciajucundius 
accidere mihi posset. Quod si Diis insperato visum fuerit, tu 
velim mihi ibi praesto sis, ut tuo consortio, tuaque familiaritate, 
ut consuevi, in omnibus rebus utar. Libros quos te edidisse 
scribis, nulla mentione argumenti, consequi aveo, nec dubito 
quin eorum lectione mirum in modum oblecter. Vale, et ut 
me ames, vehementer te rogo. 

No. XXXII. 

JONESIUS H. A. SCHULTENS, S. 

Vide quantum a libertate absim, ego scilicet, qui re a etxv 
ixevfoglccv solebam prae me ferre! Volens equidem, atque adeo 
ardenter cupiens, te Amstelodami visere, pollicitus etiam tibi, 
me hoc demum anno apud te futurum, variis et magnis 
negotiis Londini detineor. Scito me unum esse e sexaginta- 
viris iis, qui de debitoribus bona cedentibus judicant. Officio 
huic satis inest utilitatis, lucri non nimis. Me tamen per 
majorem anni partem in hac urbe defixum tenet. Addestudia 
necessaria, et forenses occupationes, magnumque opus respon- 
dendi clientibus de quaestionibus juris. Graecos tamen oratores 
lectito; et Isaei utilissimas orationes patrio sermone converti. 
Quid agit interea Meidanus? Haririus? Pergas velim eos 
ornare, itatamen ut cures valetudinem. Vale! 

vij Id. Dec. mdcclxxvi. 

No. XXXIII. 

H. A. SCHULTENS JONESIO, S. 

Dici vix potest quantopere me exhilararent literae tuae, 
breves illae quidem, sed officii et humanitatis plenissimse. 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


44 

Pudet profecto, me tam sero ad eas rescribere, ut jure mihi 
videar a te reprehendendus, tanquam tuorum erga me benefi- 
ciorum parum memor: quam vero suspicionem gravissimam 
ut omni vi atque opera deprecor, sic nolo equidem, nec pos¬ 
sum, omnem negligentise culpam prorsus diffiteri....Habes, mi 
Jonesi, reum confitentem; sed ignoscas, quseso, meliora in 

futurum pollicenti.Prseterea multse sunt et infinite fere 

occupationes mese, quae me vix sinnnt respirare..*.certe scribere 
volentem continue jubent officium illud in aliud tempus re- 
jicere. Justa tibi videbitur haec excusatio, ubi dixero, de 
Meidanio meo per hos 5 menses ne quidem fuisse cogitatum. 
Nunc vero, paulo plus otii nactus, intermissum laborem brevi 
resumam, cujus persequendi molestiam multum sublevabit 
ingens et rarum beneficium, quod a bibliothecae Leidensis 
curatoribus nuper impetravi, ut non tantdm codicem Meidanii, 
sed alios etiam, quibus’indigeo, hue mecum deferam, eosque, 
quam diu opus erit, in usus meos adhibeam. Itaque tam 
insigni benevolentia mirifice adjutus, pergam acriter, quantum 
per alias occupationes licebit, in describendo codice* con- 
ficiendis indicibus necessariis, (sine quibus in tali opere exse- 
quendo nihil proficitur) et augendo atque ornando omni 
editiones apparatu, qui jam paulatim sub manibus coepit in- 
crescere....utinam modo liceret omne illud tempus, quod mul¬ 
tum reluctant!, segerrimeque interdum ferenti, surripiunt cujus- 
cunque generis lectiones, quas dicimus, coram discipulis, 
aliisve auditoribus Cum publice, turn privatim, habend?e, his 
meis deliciis unice impendere....Sed tres, quatuorve, annos 
prsevideo in hoc pistrino adhuc fore consumendos nec prius 
me inde liberandum, qu'm majore rerum copia instructo, 
facile mihi erit hujusmodi recitationes absque longa medita- 
tione effundere, et, ut nos dicere solemus, tanquam ex manica 
excutere....interim jacet Haririus, jacent poetse Arabes, jacent 
etiam, quod vehementer doleo, literse Persicse, molles illse et 
elegantes, quarum addiscendarum tu me tanta cupiditate in- 
cendisti, ut quidquid evenerit, si modo vivam et valeam, cer- 
tum sit deiiberatumque, rarO apud nos exemplo, totum me 
illis tradere. De edendo Haririo parum abest, ut desperem. 
Constitueram solum textum exhibere, ex optimis, qui ad 



45 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

manum erant, codicibus expression, eique versionem ab Avo 
paratam et absolutam adjungere....hoc si praestarem, videbar 
mihi sine temporis dispendio, et inter el dum aliud agerem, 
utilitati publicse satis consulere. Sed sunt, quorum judicio 
multum mihi deferendum est, partim etiam voluntate obtem- 
perandum, qui consilium illud dissuadeant, et serio hortentur, 
ne in lucem prodeat sine excerptis ex Tebrizio aliisve gram- 
maticis, vel etiam sine annotationibus quibusdam meis. Ego 
quidem non ita sentio: sed est horum auctoritati cedendum, 
ideoque expectandum, donee major mihi facultas sit talem 
editionem rite ornandi. Scheidius noster his diebus edidit 
primam particulam Lexici Gieuhariani, quse ex capite I sivs 
* * * usque ad finem literse * * decurrit, et 200 ferfc 

paginis comprehenditur....Putat integrum opus cum versione 
Latina edendum, 10 volumina, unumquodque mille paginarum 
fore impleturum. Diversasunthominumjudicia. Ipse quidem 
in persequendo tarn immenso opere, adeo nullam molestiam 
prsevidet, ut etiam de Phiruzabadio aliisque auctoribus eden- 
dis interdum cogitet. Alii vero institutum arbitrantur infinitis 
obseptum difficultatibus, nec unquam, nisi aureus quidem 
imber ipsi decidat, ad finem perducendum....Et hoc quidem 
unicum est, quod in Arabicis hodie inter nos agitur, nisi quod 
Willmettus, juvenis theologus, sed eruditus, glossarium parat 
in Haririum, Arabshiadem, et Coranum....Incipientibus opus 
ut’lissimum, quodque multCun proderit iis, qui Lexici Goliani 
caritate, ejusque Comparand! difficultate sclent interdum ab 
harum literarum studio deterreri. Melior est Grsecarum 
literarum et Latinarum apud nos conditio; quod equidem 
non invideo, nec miror, sed ferrem adhuc lenius, si mode 
aliqua hujus felicitatis pars in Orientales etiam literas redun- 
daret....Habemus Ruhnkenium in elaborando Velleio Pater- 
culo, Burmannum in Propertio, Wyttenbachium in Plutarcho, 
Tollium in Apolionii Lexico Homerico eodem quod est a 
Villoisonio in Gallic editum, occupatos. Phalaridis epistola, 
de quarum auctore tanta fuit inter vestrates Boyleium et 
Bentleium controversia, brevi in lucem emittentur. Vidistin, 
elegantissimam Ruhnkenii dissertationem* de vita et scriptis 
Longini? Multa sunt ejus exempkt in Angliam delata....sin 


46 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


videris, curabo, ut data occasione earn accipias. Prodibit 
etiam intra paucas hebdomadas bibliotheca qusedam critica, 
duobus vel tribus fasciculis, quovis anno, edenda, cujuSque 
duplex erit institutum. Alterum, ut novos libros*, sed optimos, 
commemoret, ex omni genere literarum, quae ad eruditam 
antiquitatem pertinent; alterum, ut nova qusedam et inedita, 
subinde interspergat. Latent quidem ejus auctores, vel potius 
latere cupiunt, etsi quosdam illorum certi&sime prodet cum 
haud vulgaris eruditio, turn rara scribendi elegantia. Nec 
tamen ita sunt mihi prorsus ignoti, quin hoc ausim confidenter 
affirmare, magnopere tibi hunc libellum esse placiturum.... 
sunt autem in ilia societate quidajn ex amicis meis atque 
familiaribus, qui id a me^petant, ut commendatione mea, bib- 
liopolam Londini habeant, ad quem^possint exempla qusedam 
transmittere. Cog'itavi de Elmsleyo cui haud grave erit, 
viginti, vel etiam paucioribus exemplis experiri, quern suc- 
cessum libellus iste inter vos sit habiturus...Sed voluiprius hac 
de re ad te scribere, ut vel ipse, vel alius quisquam tuo hortatu, 
promptior sit ad ilium negotium suscipiendum. Est adhuc 
aliud, idque majoris momenti, quod, lfie tanquam proxeneta 
quodam usi, vehementer a te flagitant....Nempe ex Orientali- 
bus literis, imprimis vero Arabicis, Persicisque nonnulla in 
bibliothecam conferre cupientibus auctor fui, ut, cum pauci 
libri in hoc genere prodeant, pauciores etiam aliqua com- 
memoratione digni sint, vacuum hunc locum relinquerent 
brevioribus, dissertationibus friotTfiScat, vel quo- 

cunque tandem nomine aliquid acciperent, quod ad hsec studia 
promovenda egregii conducat. Ipse promisi, me interdum, si 
nihil melius haterent, biographias quasdam ex Jbn Chalikane 
suppeditaturum. Tunc illi laudare quidem hoc consilium, 
simul vero. vehementer a mfe petere, ut Jonesio hujusmodi 
diatribas extorquerem....Nihil fore, quod hanc bibliothecae 
partem ornationem redderet magisque commendaret....Me, 
si vera sint, quse de mutua nostra amicitia semper in ore fero, 
facile illud a te impetraturum. Vides igitur, mi Gulielme, quo 
me adduxerit frequens tui erga me amoris gloriatio....sed 
pareo eorum voluntati eo lubentius, quo pulchrior mihi inde 
spes nascitur, gravem quam fecimus tui jacturam, aliqua. 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 47 

ratione reparandi....Itaque oro te, obsecro et per veterem ilium 
tuum amorem Musarum Orientalium, quibus tam flebile tui 
desiderium reliquisti: per ilium ergo amorem obtestor, ut, 
dum commoda tibi est iis gratificandi occasio, banc nobis 
felicitatem non invideas. Excute forulos....invenies multa 
parata, perfecta, nec indigna, quse lucem adspiciant: quidquid 
mittes erit illud acceptissimum, et vel addito tuo nomine, vel 
omisso, uti ipse hoc jusseris, bibliothecse inseretur. Si An- 
glice quid scriptum habeas,^ec sit tibi ejus Latine vertendi 
opportunitas, illud equidem lubens suscipiam, istamque ver- 
sionem aliis, qui sunt Latine scribendi rnulto me peritiores 
examinandam et corrigendam tradens curabo, ne tuse laudi 
atque existimatloni aliquid detrahatur....Nihil prseterea adde- 
tur, omittetur, vel mutabitur, sed omnia erunt tua eadem ilia, 
quse miseris: quam in rem fidem meam si opus esse putas, 
sanctissime interpono....Tu, nisi molestum est, cito mihi re¬ 
scribe nostrseque petitioni facilem te prsebe ac benignum. 

Gratulor munus, quod aditum tibi ad majora et pinguiora 
brevi patefaciet. Sed amissam libertatem non tam tui, quam 
mei causa, molest fero. Nemini, ne Anglo quidem, misera 
est servitus, quse in utilitatem publicam suscepta, virtutis est 
et meritorum justa remuneratio. Mihi autem, qui, dum 
liber eras, frustra te expectavi, imprimis gravis est ilia tua 
servitus, quse tui videndi spem sin minus omnem prsecidit, at 
certe minuit, et multum extenuat....Hunc tu nobis me turn, 
eripe, et si quid vacui temporis tibi relictum est; erit autem 
interdum, nam babes 59 socios in munere tuo tibi adjunctos: 
id quseso ne prsetermittas, sed hue excurrens felicitatem nos- 
tram jucundissimo tuo adspectu et colloquio augeas quam 
cumulatissim-. Ego quin ad vos aliquando revertar, non 
defectu quodam voluntatis retineor; tanta enim cum voluptate 
repeto, memoria tempus illud, quo suavissima tua consuetu- 
dine frui mihi licuit, ut ne vivam, si non ardentissimo desi- 
derio teneor in eandem felicitatem quanto ocius evdlandi. 
Nec prohibet temporis angustia, quandoquidem ita fert mune- 
ris mei ratio, ut per novem fere menses plurimis negotiis 
obrutus, tribus reliquis liber sim et homo mei juris....Quid 
igftur ?....Dicam quod res est, nec turpe existimabo talia amico 


48 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


indicasse * * * * * Sterile ut ubivisr, 

§ic etiam in Belgio literature Orientals solum necessaria 
quidem ad vitam laute satis alendam praebet; quod superfluum 
videri posset neutiquam concedit....Donee igitur inexpectata 
quasdam fertilitas advenerit, itineris Anglici iterum suscipi- 
endi spes prorsus mihi evanuit. Sed quae fors fert, aequo 
feram animo. Quandoquidem verb hujus rei mentionem 
apud te injeci, addam etiam aliud, in quo tu forsan poteris 
egregie mihi adjuvarc. Constitui, ut rebus meis melius con- 
sulam eamque superiluitatem consequar, quae, etsi careri 
potest, tamen grata est et jucunda fruentibus, adoleseentulum 
circumspicere, quern in sedes recipiam, cujusque mores cliri-^ 
gam ac gubernem....Sed cupio imprimis ex "vestratibus ali- 
quem recipere, cum qir d rarius solent nostri homines pueros 
aliis tradere, turn quod melius videtur (vides quam ingenue 
tecum agam) Anglo cuidam libertatem vendere, a quo major 
est etlautior merces expectanda....Sed monet deficiens charta, 
ut tandem desinam esse verbosior. Tu, si me amas, brevi 
rescribes, quid tibi hac de re videatur, et si quid poteris mei 
causa efheere id scio te lubenter facturum....Ego quidem nun- 
quam committam, ut quidquam, quod praestare possim, a me 
frustra petas. Uxor mea mecum te optimamque matrem 
tuam et sororem plurimum salvere jubet. Vale, mi Jonesi, 
Schultensiumque tuum amare perge. 

Amstelodami, Prid. Non. Maii. 


- No. XXXIV. 

JONESIUS H. A. SCHULTENS, S. 

Amice tibi et suaviter hortanti ut novo operi apud vos 
mox edendo tgavov meum confdrrem, certe non deessem, sed 
pangerem nescio quid, ut possem; nisi omnino egerem otio. 
Cum fenim of&eium meum judiciale, turn forensis labor, lucu- 
brationes continue, dicendi meditatio, actio causarum, et in 
jure respondendi munus, vix horulam mihi concedunt ad 
somnum, et ad cibum capiendum. Quod me jucundissime 
fecisti certidrem quid tu agas, quidque in patria iul agatur, 


49 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 

gratias ago maximas. Ego si quem Anglum generosum et 
bene locupletem invenero, qui vel filium vel pupiilum ad re- 
colendas humaniores literas istinc mittere voluerit; laudis tu® 
me verum prseconem fore polliceor, nec in re quapiam tibi 
defuturum. Hoc tamen quam sit incertum, tu non"ignoras. 
Vale, meque dilige. 

IV Cal. Jul. 1777. 

No. XXXV. 

REVICZKIUS JONESIO, S. 

Varsovice , 17 Martii , 1779. 

Pertulit ad me nuper Duninius binos tuos varise erudi- 
tionis libros, novissimj in lucem editos, quibus vehementer 
delectatus sum, nam et memorem te adhuc mei ex munere 
hoc gratus recognovi, et singularis ilia doctrina, qua scripta 
tua referta luxuriant, voluptatem cum profectu legenti adtulit, 
et ad obliterata pene jam in animo meo hujuscemodi studia, 
iterum recolenda, stimulum addidit. Vitam Persici Schach 
Nadir jam anteaprinceps Adamus Czartoriski linguis Orientis 
non infeliciter addictus, legendam mihi obtulit, et quae in dia¬ 
tribe adjuncta honorifice de me meministi indigitavit; sed ea 
quidem amori erga me tuo unice adscripta velim. Nunc quod 
amcenioribus literis nuncium dare, et Themidis sacrario unice 
te devovere decreveris, sine reipublicae literariae jactura fieri 
posse non censeo, neque futurum spero, quin te Melpomene 
nascentem vidit, et nolentem volentem sub suo imperio coer- 
cebit. Mihi jam in septimum annum et ad fastigium usque 
Vistulae, littora coluntur, felicioribus mutanda, ni fallor, ex- 
tincto, si Diis placet, in Germania bello. Quanto gratius in 
Britannia nec longe a te,.tempus meum transigerem, si me 
fata meis paterentur ducere vitam auspiciis! Sed quocunque 
locorum sorte compulsus fuero, amare te non desinam. Vale. 


50 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


No. XXXVI. 

H. A. SCHULTENS JONESIO, S. 

Quanquam plurimis occupationibus et ssepius et nunc 
maxime impedior, a conscribendis epistolis, per quas veteris 
amicitia memoria recolatur, a cujus rei suavitate atque delec- 
tatione moleste fero me abduci: tamen tale mihi videtur aigu- 
mentum literarum tuarum, quas his diebus accepi, ut melius 
sit tribus duntaxat verbis ad eas respondere, quam, dum 
meliorem qusero scribendi opportunitatem, nimia cunctatione 
efficere, ut vel nihil ad causam tuam, quae in summo meo erga 
te studio, quam maxime mea est, juvandam praestare queam, 
vel, etsi a me juvari non possis, in suspicionem veniam negli- 
gentiae in amicis colendis, eorumque voluntati ac desiderio 
obtemperando. 

Enimvero, mi Jonesi, intellexi tuam petitionem gravissimi 
muneris, ac gloriosissimi, quod, si virtute non fautoribus am- 
biendum sit, haud scio in quern conferri possit te digniorem, 
atque ornatiorem cum ingenio, plurimarum rerum utilissima- 
rum cognitione, admirabili eloquentise vi et prsestantia; turn 
vero patrise ac libertatis amantiorem, qui communi rerum 
vestrarum calamitati succurrat majore consilio, prudentii, 
fortitudine, animi integritate, cui igitur Alma Mater nostra 
(nam patere me hac appellatione pietatis meo sensui grati- 
ficari) salutis ac prosperitatis suse curam tutius committat. 

Sed hunc tuum, qui palam cognitus est, libertatis amorem 
nonne in hac temporum perversitate tibi putas nociturum 
esse? Ferentne plurimi, a quorum suffragiis ea res pendet, 
personam Academise in comitiis publicis a Julio Melesigono 
sustineri? Belgae quidem cle rerum vestrarum statu sic judi- 
cant, difficile esse bono viro qui libertatis amorem publice 
profiteatur, ad rempublicam gerendam admoveri. 

Verum hsec dices nihil ad me pertinere; modo quodcunque 
in me est omni studio conferam ad causam tuam promoven- 
dam. Atque hoc ipsum est, de quo velim paulo plura ex te 
sciscitari. Quomodo et apud quos illud stadium profitendum 
sit ac declarandum. Habeamne potCstatem suffragium mit- 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 


51 


tendi, cujus ratio pro causa tua habeatur: Id quidem vix 
credidero. An vero ex amicis meis Oxoniensibus illi com- 
pellandi sint, a quorum amicitia, benevolentia et humanitate 
aliquid sperari ausim, veluti Kennicottus, Whitius, Winstan- 
lejus. Tu mihi prima mox occasione rescribas, atque indices 
quid agendum sit. Habebis me tui studiosissimum, nec uM 
in re patiar officium meum tibi deese. 

Ego nunc Leidse versor, ubi ante annum fere cum dimidio, 
Patri meo defuncto, successi in munere docendarum literarum 
Orientalium. Sed de his rebus cupio propediem pluribus ad 
te scribere. Nam vehementer etiam scire cupio quid tu agas, 
quid agant mater tua, fceminarum optima, et sorer mihi 
amicissima. Velim meo nomine plurimam iis salutem dicas, 
et obsequii atque amicitise mess significationem ad eas perferas. 
Vale, mi Jonesi, et me amare perge. 

Dabam Lugduni Bat: 

Prid. Kal. Jun. 1780. 

Missa sunt qusedam exempla catalogi bibliothecae patris 
mei, quae vendetur mense Septembri, ad bibliopolam Londi- 
nensem, puto ad Elmslejum. Ex iis jussi unum ad te deferri. 

No. XXXVII. 

JONESIUS H. A. SCHULTENS, S. 

11 Kal. Jun. 1781. 

Ego de bello hoc facinorissimo quid sentiam, tu non 
ignoras; quantus autem sim tyrannorum osor, quantus verae 
libertatis fautor et vindex, carmen hoc Alcaicum patrio ser- 
mone scriptum, dilucide monstrabit: sed inhumanae forent 
literae quae humaniores et putantur et esse debent, si viri 
literati, praesertim ii qui studiis delectantur iisdem, bellum 
plusquam civile gererent. Perge me igitur Batavus Anglum, 
ut facis, amare; quemadmodum ego te, Anglus Batavum, et 
amo et amabo. Scito me ruri nuper hyemantem et feriatum 
septem ilia nostrorum Arabum suspensa poemata, ne versiculo 
quidem omisso, Anglice reddidisse; totum opus, cum notis* 


52 


LETTERS TO AND FROM 


et procemio de vetustioribus Arabise monumentis, proximis 
sestivis feriis in lucem proferre statui. Tabrizzii commen- 
tarium ipse possideo; Zotizeniiiroip*<ppoirty et notulas perutiles, 
cujus libri pulchrius exemplar Lutetise utendum accepi, be- 
nignissime mihi commodavit collegium Trinitatis Cantabri- 
giense. Sadii notas et versionem Persicam, cum Ansarii 
scholiis, et insigni Obeidallce editione, Oxonii habemus; sed 
omnino omnes editiones et commentarios accedere vehementer 
cupio. Avus tuus, felicis memorise, quern ego maxime, ut 
debeo, semper facio, carmina hsec “cedro digna” prsedicat, 
seque ait, nisi fallor, codicem Nahasi Leydensem in proprios 
usus transcripsisse. Prseterea in bibliothecse locupletissimse 
Schultensiance indice, cujus unum exemplar, Huntero, amico 
meo, fideliter tradidi, alterum ipse avide pervolutavi, hsec 
verba legi: u 6990. Septem Moallakat Arab, pulcherrime 
scripta.” Ecquis. amabo, codicem hunc emptum possidet? 
Quonam veniit pretio? Dolet, emptorem me non fuisse; sed 
ego tunc variis et magnis negotiis ipse suspensus de suspe?isis 
carminibus ne cogitavi quidem. Adjuva me, per musas oro, 
in opere hoc meo lauta supellectile ornando; et quidquid 
habes vel notarum vel lectionum variarum apud te reconditum 
deprome atque imperti. Multa de familia tua QtXupctQi dixi in 
prooemio, plura et magnifica, sed et vera dicturus. Scire in 
primis velim, ullusne e septem poetis, prseter Amriolkaisum et 
Tarafem Latine redditus apud vos prodierit. Librum meum, 
quern bene nitidum reddet Baumgantius pumex, expecta. 
Mater mea dilectissima omnium mulierum fuit, ut semper 
putavi, optima; est, ut confido, sanctissima; ego me luctu ma- 
cerare non desinam. Te et Schultensiam tuam bene valere, 
si quam citissime certior factus fuero, id mihi erit gratissi-, 
mum. Vale. 

No. XXXVIII. 

JBaron REVICZKY to Sir W. JONES. 

Monsieur, Londres , 30 Juin , 1789. 

Par la Vestale fregate, qui devoit conduire a la Chine 
k colonel Cathcart, je vous ai envoys une lettre, Monsieur, 


SIR WILLIAM JONES. 53 

en reponse a une belle epitre Persanne, que le Sr. Elmsley, 
libraire dans le Strand, m’a fait tenir de votre part, et qui m’a 
servi d un temoignage bien agreable du precieux souvenir 
dont vous continuez a m’hpnorer, malgre la distance des lieux 
qui nous separe. Mais j’ai S 9 U que le colonel etant mort en 
chemin, la Vestale etoit retournee en Angleterre, et j’ai lieu 
de soup^onner que par cet accident ma lettre n’a pas atteint 
sa destination. J’ai re 9 u depuis peu un superbe ouvrage que 
vous avez fait imprimer a Calcutta, et qui feroit honneur a la 
plus celebre imprimerie de 1’Europe, accompagne d’une aussi 
elegante qu’obligeante lettre, ou j’ai reconnue la main de 
quelque tres-habile Chattat, si je suis encore en etat d’en 
juger, car en verite, faute de continuer a cultiver les langues 
Orientales, elles me sontdevenues si etrangires que si je n’en 
avois jamais rienappris. Je n’ai pas encore vu la belle ecriture 
Arabe si bien rendue par l’imprimerie, que dans le po'eme 
Persan dont vous m’avez fait l’honneur de me gratifier. Je 
suis bien fache que pendant mon sejour a Londres j’aie ete 
prive de votre chere compagnie, qui m’auroit ete d’une 
resource infinie; et j’ignore encore si je jouirai de ce bonheur 
lors de votre retours, me voyant oblige de suivre bientot ma 
nouvelle destination a Naples, ou l’Empereur m’a nomme son 
Ministre. Mais quelle que soit ma destinee, je vous prie 
d’etre persuade, que l’absence et l’eloignement ne changeront 
jamais rien a la resolution que j’ai prise d’etre toute ma vie, 
par reconnoissance et par inclination, 

Votre tres-humble 

et tres-obeissant, 

Serviteur, 

REVICZKI. 











V. 






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■ . , . .T. 

v ;■ * 

. 








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APPENDIX. A. 


The Design of Britain Discovered , an Heroic Poem , 
in Twelve Books. 

By WILLIAM JONES. 

Ne carmine quidem ludere contrarium fuerit: ideoque 
mihi videtur M. Tullius tantum intulisse eloquentias lumen, 
quod in hos quoque studiorum secessus excurrit. 

Quintil. Instit. 1. x. S. 


The Idea of an Epic Poem , at Spa , July 1770, Anno cetat . 23. 

BRITAIN DISCOVERED. 

A POEM, 

IJV TWELVE BOOKS. 

THE DESIGN. 

The first hint of this poem was suggested by a passage 
in a letter of Spenser to Sir Walter Raleigh, where, having ex¬ 
plained his intention in writing the Fairy Queen, he adds, that 
if he found his image of Prince Arthur, and the allegory of 
the twelve private virtues, to be well accepted, he might, 
perhaps, be encouraged to frame the other part of political 
virtues in his person, after he came to be king. What Spenser 






56 


APPENDIX. 


never lived to perform, it is my design in some measure to 
supply, and in the short intervals of my leisure from the 
fatigues of the bar, to finish an heroic poem on the excellence 
of our constitution, and the character of a perfect king of 
England. 

When this idea first presented itself to my mind, I found 
myself obliged, though unwillingly, to follow the advice of 
Bossu, who insists that a poet should chuse his subject in the 
abstract, and then search in the wide field of universal history 
for a hero exactly fitted to his purpose. My hero was not 
easy to be found; for the story of King Arthur, which might 
have been excellent in the sixteenth century, has lost its 
dignity in the eighteenth; and it seemed below a writer of any 
genius to adopt entirely a plan chalked out by others; not to 
mention, that Milton had a design in his youth of making 
Arthur his heir, that Dry den has given us a sketch of his 
intended poem on the same subject, and that even Blackmore 
had taken the same story, whose steps it were a disgrace to 
follow. 

It only remains, therefore, to have recourse to allegory 
and tradition, and to give the poem a double sense, in the 
first of which its subject is simply this: the discovery of our 
island by the Tyrian adventurers, who first gave it the name 
of Britain; in the second, or allegorical sense, it exhibits the 
character above mentioned of a perfect king of this country, a 
character the most glorious and beneficial of any that the 
warmest imagination can form. It represents the danger to 
which a king of England must necessarily be exposed, the 
vices which he must avoid, and the virtues and great qualities 
with which he must be adorned. On the whole, Britain 
Discovered is intended as a poetical panegyric on our 
excellent constitution, and as a pledge of the author’s attach¬ 
ment to it, as a national epic poem, like those of Homer, 
Virgil, Tasso, Camoens, designed to celebrate the honours of 
his country, to display, in a striking light, the most important 
principles of politics and morality, and to inculcate these 
grand maxims, that nothing can shake our state, while the 
true liberty of the subject remains united with the dignity of 


APPENDIX. 


57 

the sovereign, and, that in all states, virtue is the only sure 
basis of private and public happiness. 

A work of this nature might indeed have been written in 
prose, either in the form of a treatise, after the example of 
Aristotle, or of a dialogue in the manner of Tully, whose six 
books on government are now unhappily lost, or perhaps in 
imitation of Lord Bolingbroke, who has left us something of 
the same kind in his idea of a patriot king; but as poetry has 
the allowed advantage over mere prose, of instilling moral 
precepts in a manner more lively and entertaining, it was 
thought proper to deliver the whole subject in regular measure, 
under the fiction of an heroic adventure. 

The poem will be written in rhyme, like the translation of 
the Iliad by Pope, and of the Eneid by Dryden, since it has 
been found, by experience, that the verses of those poets not 
only make a deeper impression on the mind, but are more 
easily retained in the memory than blank verse, which must 
necessarily be too diffuse, and in general can only be distin¬ 
guished from prose by the affectation of obsolete or foreign 
idioms, inversions, and swelling epithets, all tending to destroy 
the beauty of our language, which consists in a natural sweet¬ 
ness and unaffected perspicuity: not to insist that a writer, who 
finds himself obliged to confine his sentiments in a narrow 
circle, will be less liable to run into luxuriance, and more likely 
to attain that roundness of diction so justly admired by the 
ancients. As to the monotony which many people complain 
of in our English rhymes, that defect, which is certainly no 
small one, if we admit only those endings which are exactly 
similar, must be compensated by a judicious variation of the 
pauses, an artful diversity of modulation, and chiefly by avoid¬ 
ing too near a return of the same endings. 

The machinery is taken partly from the Socratic doctrine 
of attendant spirits, or benevolent angels, like Thyrsis in the 
Masque of Comus, and partly from the scriptural account of 
evil spirits worshipped in Asia, under the names of Baal, 
Astarte, Nisroc, Dagon, Mammon, Moloch, and in ancient 
Europe, where Cadmus introduced thefti under those of Jupi¬ 
ter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Vulcan, Pluto. If any objection 

h 


58 


APPENDIX. 


be made to these machines, they may be considered as alle¬ 
gorical, like Spenser’s knights and paynims; the good spirits 
may be said to represent the virtues, and the evil ones the 
vices. 

The action or story of the piece, is raised upon the tradi¬ 
tion before mentioned, that the Phoenicians first discovered the 
island of Britain; but the rest must be wholly supplied by in¬ 
vention. 

A prince of Tyre, therefore, whom we may name Britanus 
or Britan, shocked at the cruelty of his countrymen in sacri¬ 
ficing their prisoners to idols, and at their impiety in paying 
divine honours to evil spirits, had meditated a voyage to some 
distant coast, with which intent, pretending to prepare for an 
expedition against some rival nation, he had built a number 
of barques, and secured to his interests a company of enter¬ 
prising youths, but was doubtful whither he should direct his 
course, till his attendant spirit, Ramiel, appeared to him in a 
vision, commending his pious resolution, and advising him to 
seek a beautiful isle in the west, where after a variety of dan¬ 
gers on earth and sea, he would reign in peace, and be the 
progenitor of a noble race, who would profess a true and bene¬ 
volent religion, and excel all other nations in learning, arts, 
and valour. At the same time the spirit shewed him the 
picture of a lovely nymph who then ruled the island, attended 
by damsels of her own nature. The prince, animated by this 
vision, and deeply enamoured with the idea of the nymph, 
who in the allegorical sense, represents Liberty, left the coast 
of Phoenicia, and sailed towards Egypt. 

These circumstances, being previous to the action, are not 
related till the second book; for at the opening of the poem, 
after the usual introduction, the prince is brought with his 
companions to the mouth of the Nile: he lands, and advances 
towards the city of Memphis, but is met in a forest by Pvamiel, 
in the shape of a venerable sage, who conducts him to the 
palace of the Egyptian king, where he sees the temple of 
science, the pyramids, then just begun, and other amazing 
edifices. After a splendid repast, he is desired to relate the 
motives of his voyage. The subject of the next book has 


APPENDIX. 


59 


been already explained; but it will be diversified like all the 
rest, with several speeches, descriptions,' and episodes. The 
third book begins with a consultation of the evil deities wor¬ 
shipped in Phoenicia, whose various characters are delineated. 
The debate is opened by Baal, who, in a furious speech, com¬ 
plains of the insult offered to their temples by the expedition 
of the Tyrians, and discourses with malignity on the future 
happiness of their descendants. Various stratagems are pro¬ 
posed to obstruct their progress. At last Astarte offers to 
allure the chief with the love of pleasure, Mammon to tempt him 
with riches, Dagon promises to attack his fleet, Nisroc to en¬ 
gage him in a desperate war, Moloch to assist his enemies by 
his enchantment, and Baal himself to subvert his government, 
by instilling into his mind a fondness of arbitrary power. In 
the mean while the Tyrians are at sea, accompanied by Ramiel, 
who in the character of a sage, had offered to conduct them; 
they are driven by a tempest back to Cyprus, where Astarte, 
in the shape of a beautiful princess, like the nymph before de¬ 
scribed, attempts to seduce the hero by all the allurements of 
voluptuousness, which he resists at length by the assistance of 
the guardian spirit, and leaves the island where he had almost 
been induced to settle, mistaking it for the western isle de¬ 
scribed to him in his vision. In the fourth book, after an 
invocation to the nymphs of Thames, the virgin Albina is re^ 
presented conversing with her damsels in Albion....her dream 
and love of the Tyrian prince, whose image had been shewn 
to her in a rivulet by the genius of the isle. The Phoenicians 
landing in Crete, are received by Baal, who had taken the 
form of the Cretan king, and discourses to the prince in praise 
of tyranny, but is confuted by the sage. The fifth book re¬ 
presents a nation in peace: a meeting, raised by the instigation 
of Baal, is appeased; arts, manufactures, and sciences,begin 
to flourish. As the Tyrians sail along the coast of the Medi¬ 
terranean, the sage, at the request of Britan, describes to him 
the state of Greece, Italy, and the Gauls, and relates rather 
obscurely, by way of prophecy, the future glory and decline of 
Athens and Rome. The Phoenicians reach the straits at 
the opening of the sixth book. The evil spirits assemble, and 


60 


APPENDIX. 


determine, since most of their stratagems had failed, to attack 
them by violence. Dagon raises a tempest and a great com¬ 
motion in the elements, so that the whole fleet is covered with 
darkness: Ramiel encourages the prince, and, pretending to 
retire from danger on account of his age, summons a legion 
of genii, or benevolent angels, and engages the evil spirits in 
the air. Nisroc, in hopes of intimidating Britan, appears to 
him in all his horrors, the prince expostulates with him, and 
darts a javelin at the spirit, but is seized by Mammon, and 
carried in a cloud to a distant part of the globe; upon which 
Ramiel, whose power may be supposed to be limited, and who 
might think that the virtue of the prince should be put to a 
severe trial, leaves him for a time, and flies in his own shape 
to the mansion of the beneficent genii. The seventh book is 
wholly taken up with a description of the opposite hemisphere, 
to which the prince is conveyed by Mammon, whose palace 
and treasure are described; the Tyrian chief is almost tempted 
to desist from his enterprise, and to reside in America with 
the adorers of Mammon....the inconveniences of an oligarchy 
displayed. The evil spirits being dispersed, light returns to 
the Tyrians, who find themselves in the ocean, but, missing 
their leader and the sage, dispute about the regency, and are 
on the point of separating....the danger of anarchy: at length 
having an admiral and a commander, they land on the coast 
of Gaul, at the beginning of the eighth book. Nisroc incites 
the king of that country to attack them; hence is deduced the 
origin of the national enmity between the English and French. 
The guardian spirits assemble; their speeches; the genius of 
Albion proposes to conduct Albina to the palace of Mam¬ 
mon, in order to rouse the hero from his inactivity. In the 
ninth book the war in Gaul is supported with alternate success, 
and various heroes distinguish themselves on both sides by 
their valour or virtue. Moloch contrives an enchanted valley 
between the Gallic city and the Phoenician camp, which dis¬ 
tresses the Tyrians extremely, who, despairing of the prince’s 
return, are encouraged and assisted by Ramiel. In the tenth 
book the genius appears to Albina, relates to her the situation 
ot Britan, ana passes with her disguised like young warriors, 


APPENDIX. 


61 


through the center of the earth; they rise on a sudden in the 
gardens of Mammon, and discover themselves to the prince, 
who returns with them to Europe. The malevolent spirits 
thus baffled in all their attempts, debate in the eleventh book 
upon taking more vigorous measures, and resolve to hazard a 
decisive battle with the guardian angels. The war in Gaul 
continued; a bloody combat; the Tyrians put to flight: Britan 
and Albina appear and rally them; the evil deities defeated; 
Gaul subdued; the Phoenicians pass the enchanted valley. In 
the last book the victorious army march along the coast of 
France, till they discern the rocks of Albion; upon which, they 
embark and cross the channel, attended by the invisible genii, 
who sit in the sails. The nuptials of Britan, who gives his 
name to the island, with Albina, that is, in the more hidden 
sense, of royalty with liberty. The Tyrians chuse their brides 
among the other nymphs. Ramiel conducts the king and 
queen of Britain to the top of a high mountain, since called 
Dover Cliff, whence he shews them the extent of their empire, 
points to its different rivers, forests, and plains, foretells its 
future glory, and, having resumed his celestial form, flies to 
heaven; the hero and nymph descend from the mountain, 
astonished and delighted. 


BRITAIN DISCOVERED. 

BOOK I. 

The daring chief who left the Tyrian shore, 
And, led by angels, durst new seas explore, 
Commands my boldest strain. Thro’ dire alarms, 
The shock of tempests and the clash of arms, 

He sought the main, where blissful Albion lay, 
And, heav’n-defended, took his anxious way. 
Tho’ air-born fiends his wand’ring fleet assail’d 
With impious rage, yet love and truth prevail’d. 


62 


APPENDIX. 


In the Memoirs, page 312, it has been mentioned, that Sii* 
William Jones (after an interval of eighteen years) resumed 
his design of writing an Epic Poem on the subject of Britain 
Discovered; and I here subjoin as much of the plan and 
execution as was ever printed. It will be proper, however, to 
correct an error in the Memoirs, in which Pope’s intention of 
writing a poem on the same subject is supposed to have 
suggested the idea in the first instance to Sir William Jones, 
as he expressly declares that the first hint of such a com¬ 
position originated from the perusal of a letter of Spencer to 
Sir W. Raleigh. 


BRITAIN DISCOVERED: 

AN 

HEROIC POEM. 


THE ARGUMENTS. 


BOOK I. 

The Phoenicians having landed near Tartessus , are 
unkindly received by the natives; their leader Britan, sends 
Phenix and Plermion , as his ambassadors, to the king of Iberia , 
•who treats them with indignity, rejects the proffered union, 
and commands them to leave his coast. In the mean time the 
prince of Tyre wanders, to meditate on his destined enter¬ 
prise, into a forest; where his attendant spirit appears to him 
in the character of a Druid , warns him of approaching dangers, 
and exhorts him to visit in disguise the court of king Lusus; 
he consents; is conducted to the banks of the Tagus , with a 
harp and oaken garland, and is hospitably entertained by the 




APPENDIX. 


sovereign of Lusitania , who prevails on him to relate the 
history of his life and fortunes. The narrative begins from 
his vision of Albione in the groves of Tyre , and his consul¬ 
tation of the Memphian sages, to his arrival in Greece . He 
visits Dido, his father’s sister, then employed in building 
Carthage . A debate between Phenix and the Carthaginian 
chiefs on the best possible form of government. 

BOOK II. 

The gods of India convened on Mount Cailds , by Rudra 
or Mahadeva,xh.e power of destruction; their numbers, charac¬ 
ters, attributes, and attendants. The goddess Ganga announces 
the views and voyage of the Tyrian hero; expresses her ap¬ 
prehensions of his ultimate success, but advises the most 
vehement opposition to him; declaring that his victory will 
prove the origin of a wonderful nation, who will possess 
themselves of her banks, profane her waters, mock the temples 
of the Indian divinities, appropriate the wealth of their adorers, 
introduce new laws, a new religion, a new government, insult 
the Brahmens , and disregard the sacred ordinances of Brihma . 
After a solemn debate it is agreed to exert all their powers, 
and to begin with obstructing the passage of the Phoenician fleet 
into the Atlantic , by hurling a vast mountain into the straits: 
they proceed immediately to a variety of hostile machinations. 

BOOK III. 

The narrative of Britan continued, with a description of 
the Grecian islands, of the Italian and Gallic shores, and closed 
with an account of the tempest that compelled him to land on 
the coast of Iberia . The king of Lusitania , foreseeing the 
future greatness of the prince, secretly envies him, but 
promises friendly aid in private , assigning reasons for his 
inability to give open succour. Britan departs, and proceeds 
toward Gaul, in order to view the channel and beautiful isle, 
that were destined to perpetuate his name. 

BOOK IV. 

The hero, still disguised and attended by his tutelary- 
genius, travels to the coast of Gaul; learns that the king of 


64 


APPENDIX. 


that country, Gallus, invited by an ambassy from Iberia , and 
instigated by the Hindu god of battles, had resolved to concur 
in extirpating the Phoenicians; and is apprised, that the Tartes - 
sians had actually assailed the works which his army had raised. 
On this he returns with incredible celerity; while the benignant 
genii or spirits, permitted to attend on favoured mortals, hold 
a splendid convention in the Empyrean. 

book v. 

War is begun in form, and various actions of heroes are 
related; the Indian gods intermix in fight, and are opposed by 
the guardian spirits. Tartessus taken by storm; in a council, 
of Tyrian chiefs it is proposed by Lelex to leave the coast 
victorious and sail instantly to Albion; but the impracticability 
of that plan is evinced by a messenger, who announces the 
sudden obstruction of the ships. Britan then proposes, as a 
measure distressful but necessary, to pursue their course 
with vigour through Iberia and Gaul; that, if conquered, they 
might perish gloriously; if conquerors, might seize the hostile 
galleys, and in them pass the channel. The proposal is received 
with bursts of applause, and the Phoenician troops are drawn 
©ut in complete array. 

BOOK VI. 

Various exploits and events in battle. The actions of 
Indr a god of air, with his seven evil genii; of Rama , Bela - 
badra , Nared , and Cartic . The Tyrians , in deep distress, 
apply to Lusus, who assists them coldly. The Celts are every 
where successful; and the Gallic fleet covers the bay. 

BOOK VII. 

The guardian spirit prepares the nymph Albione for 
prosperous events ; encourages Britan , but announces im¬ 
minent perils; then leaves him on pretence of assisting at 
certain Druidical rites. A terrible combat in the air, and at 
the straits, between the opposing gods and the tutelary angels: 
the mountain is rent from the mouth of the straits, and 
becomes a floating island, which being fixed, has the name of 
Madera , and is given to Lusus. The Phoenician fleet having 


APPENDIX. 


65 


been with difficulty preserved from the Agnyastra, or fiery 
darts of Mahesa , sails triumphantly into the Atlantic , after a 
surprising retreat of the army under the conduct of Britan . 

BOOK VIII. 

The Druid returns with a relation of oracular answers in 
the Celtic temples, concerning the destiny of Albion , and the 
Atlantides , or New World: the future American war, and the 
defence of Gibraltar by different names, are obscurely shadowed 
in the prediction. An obstinate naval fight, in which Britan 
is wounded by an arrow of fire, but protected and carried from 
the fleet by his attendant angel. 

BOOK IX. 

The genius transports Britan to the isle of Albion; which 
is described by its mountains, vales, and rivers; then unin¬ 
habited, except by nymphs and beings of a superior order. 
The palace and gardens of Albione ; who completes the cure 
of her lover, and acquiesces in his return to the army; having 
first, at his request, told her own adventures, and related the 
separation of her island from the coast of Gaul , 

book x. 

The Gallic army arrayed: the actions of their chiefs. A 
variety of distress involves the Tyrians by sea and land; they 
are driven to their works, and enclosed on both sides; until 
their prince appearing suddenly among them rouses their 
courage, and performs the most heroic achievements, by 
which the scale of success is completely turned. This book 
contains a number of events and episodes; among which is the 
death and funeral of Melgart, the Tyrian Hercules. 

BOOK XI. 

The Indian deities invite those of Tyre and Syria to co¬ 
operate with them; prophesying darkly the invasion of their 
empire by the Croisaders: they excuse themselves, equally 
averse to the Gauls and to all the nations of Europe . A final 
conflict; and a complete victory in every element by the 

i 


66 


APPENDIX. 


Phoenicians over Callus- and Iberius , and by the protecting, 
over the malignant, spirits. The victors land in Albion , since 
called Britain , on the coast of Hama , now Hampshire; a 
description of the triumph, entertainments, and sports. 

BOOK XII. 

The nuptials of Britan and Albione , or, allegorically, of 
Royalty and Liberty united in the constitution of England . 
The attending Druid\ appearing in his own form, and in all 
his splendor, predicts the glories of the country, and its 
disasters ; but animates, rather than alarms, the hero and 
nymph, whom he consoles, whenever he afflicts them: he 
recommends the government of the Indians by their own 
laws. He then flies, his object being attained, to the celestial 
regions: they apply themselves to the regulation of their 
domain and the happiness of their subjects. 

The discovery of the British Isles by the Tyrians is 
mentioned by Strabo , Diodorus , and Pliny; and proved, as 
well by the Phoenician monuments found in Ireland, as by 
the affinity between the Irish and Punic languages. Newton 
places this event about the Eight hundred eighty-third year 
before Christ, and in the twenty-first after taking of Troy. 

book i. 

Genius, or Spirit, or tutelary Power, 

Of virtue-loving Heav’n, yet uninvok’d 
By prophet rapt, or bard in hallow’d shades, 

To grace his na ive minstrelsy, though oft 
Thy cares for Britain, thy celestial aid, 

Grateful her sons have mark’d: if e’er thou ledst 
Her glitt’ring ranks unmatch’d o’er hostile fields. 

Or, when her navies hurl’d dismay through Gaul, 
Pointedst their light’ning, and on some bright mast 
Satst like an eagle plum’d with victory, 

Oh! fill this glowing bosom, whilst I sing 
Her charms, her glories, and thy love divine. 

What Chief, what Sage, what Hero, train’d by thee 
To wisdom, first on this delightful isle 


\ 

* / 

APPENDIX. 67 

Struck his advent’rous prow? That sacred form 
Of state, self-balanc’d, harmony sublime, 

Freedom with sov’reignty in sweet accord, 

Who constituted first? The Prince of Tyre, 

Long wand’ring, long depress’d, yet e’er impell’d 
Right onward, till fair triumph bless’d his toils, 

By godlike worth and beauty’s heav’nly charm. 

Now were his light-oar’d galleys tempest-tost 
To rich Tartessus, on the far-sought shore 
Of that proud realm, where Eoetis, ample flood, 

Rush’d o’er the manors of Xberus old, 

Fam’d for the laughing sheaf, the silky fleece, 

And many-cluster’d vine; not fam’d her sons 
For meek deportment, or the soothing voice 
Of hospitality, and reception mild 
In sure abode, to strangers visitant. 

» 

From rook vn. 

As Tibetian mountains rise 
Stupendous, measureless, ridge beyond ridge, 

From Hirnola , below the point far seen 
Of Chumaluri , to more lofty steeps, 

Cambala vast, then loftier without bound, 

Till sight is dimm’d, thought maz’d: the traveller 
Perplex’d, and worn with toil each hour renew’d, 

Still through deep vales, and o’er rough crags proceeds: 
Thus on the beach, now dyed with horrid gore, 

Warrior o’er warrior tow’ring, arms on arms, 

Dire series, press’d; one slain, the next more fierce, 
Assail’d the Tyrian: he his falchion keen 
Relax’d not, but still cloth’d its edge with death, 

Disturb’d, yet undismay’d; stung, not appall’d. 


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APPENDIX. B. 


64 


A PREFATORY DISCOURSE 

TO AN 

ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE TURKS. 



There is no people in Europe, which has raised the 
terror, and excited the curiosity, of the Christian world, more 
than the Turks ; nor any, I believe, of whose true genius and 
manners we have so imperfect a notion: for though a great 
number of travellers, and among them several excellent men, 
have from time to time published their observations on various 
parts of the Turkish empire, yet few of them, as it evidently 
appears, understood the languages that are spoken in it, without 
which their knowledge could not fail of being very superficial 
and precarious. 

It has generally happened, that the persons who have 
resided among the Turks , and who from their skill in the 
Eastern dialects, have been best qualified to present us with 
an exact account of that nation, were either confined to a low 
sphere of life, or engaged in views of interest, and but little 
addicted to polite letters or philosophy : while they who, from 
their exalted stations and refined taste for literature, have had 
both the opportunity and inclination of penetrating into the 
secrets of Turkish policy, were totally ignorant of the language 
used at Constantinople , and consequently were destitute of the 
sole means by which they might learn, with any degree of 
certainty, the sentiments and prejudices of so singular a peonle: 
for the Mahometans , naturally ignorant and reserved to men 
of our religion, will disclose their opinions to those only who 




70 


APPENDIX. 


have gained their confidence by a long intimacy with them, 
and the Greek subjects, who have a just detestation of their 
oppressors, can hardly be supposed to speak of them with tole¬ 
rable candour. As to the generality of interpreters, we 
cannot expect from men of their condition any depth of rea¬ 
soning, or acuteness of observation; if mere words are all they 
profess, mere words must be all they can pretend to know. 

It may, therefore, be given as a general rule, that no writer 
can exhibit a just picture of the manners of any people, who 
has not either conversed familiarly with all ranks of them for 
a considerable time, or, by a more tedious process, extracted 
their sentiments from the books that are written in their lan¬ 
guage; and it is equally true, that the justest description of 
the Asiatic manners must necessarily be given by those, who, 
besides a complete acquaintance with Oriental literature, have 
had the advantage of a long residence in the East ; for w hich 
reason the most authentic account of a Mahometan nation, 
that ever was published, is that of the Persians by the traveller 
Chardin , who not only had the most familiar intercourse for 
many years with the greatest men in Ispahan , but was per¬ 
fectly acquainted with the Persian histories and poems, from 
which he has given us many beautiful extracts. 

We have great reason to regret that no relation of equal 
authority has been written on the manners of the Turks: for, 
among the many narratives on that subject, which have been 
presented to the public, there are very few that can be Recom¬ 
mended to a sensible reader. There are, indeed, some works 
in the languages of Europe , from which, as from so many 
copious sources, we may draw a variety of real knowledge on 
this head; and it will not be improper in this discourse to 
give a list of them, with a few remarks on each, before I pro¬ 
ceed to mention the Eastern books, both printed and in manu¬ 
script, from which the materials of the following essay were 
taken. This seems to me a more reasonable, and less osten¬ 
tatious, method of producing my authorities, than to fill every 
page with useless quotations, and references to sections or 
chapters, which few readers will take the pains to consult. 


APPENDIX. 71 

One of the most ancient, and perhaps the most agreeab- ?, 
of these works, comprises the four epistles c/Busbec on h* i 
embassy to Soliman the Second , and his oration on a plan fur 
supporting a vigorous war against the Turks; in all which 
pieces his diction is extremely polished and elegant, his obser¬ 
vations judicious, his account of public facts indisputably true, 
and his anecdotes tolerably authentic: but by neglecting to 
make himself a complete master of the Turkish language, or 
by his long confinement at Constantinople , he omitted an op¬ 
portunity of conversing with the finest writers and ablest 
scholars, whom the Othman empire ever produced, and whose 
beautiful compositions added a lustre to the reign of Soliman . 

The Turkish articles in the vast compilation of M. D’Her- 
belot are of the highest authority, since he drew them from 
a number of Eastern manuscripts, many of which were com¬ 
posed by Turks themselves, who had at least as fair a chance 
of knowing their own manners and opinions as any European 
whatever. It is not possible to be too lavish in the praises of 
that excellent work, which has the uncommon merit of being 
no less agreeable than learned ; and though it is disposed ac¬ 
cording to the order of the alphabet, yet it is so judiciously 
contrived, by the help of references, that, with all the con¬ 
venience of a dictionary, it may be read for the most part like 
a regular treatise. 

The History of Timur or Tamerlane , written originally in 
Arabic , by a native of Damascus , and translated into French 
by M. Fattier , deserves to be credited, as far as it relates to 
the conquests of that hero in the Lower Asia , and to his war 
with the sultan Bayazid the First , who was forced by the 
Tartars to raise the siege of Constantinople . The actions of 
Timur are related at large in this elegant work, which displays 
a faithful and interesting picture of the Asiatic manners in the 
fourteenth century: the author of it was contemporary with 
the Tartarian warrior, and was eye-witness of the principal 
facts which he records. 

The Tales of the forty Visirs , translated by M de la Croix , 
are also undoubtedly authentic; and though they are very in¬ 
elegant, and in some parts trifling, yet, upon the whole, they 


n 


APPENDIX. 


are ingenious, and shew in some degree the turn of mind of the 
people for whom they were invented; but the most useful 
translation of a Turkish book that has yet appeared, is that in 
Italian of an admirable history by the Mufti Saadeddin, 
which reaches, indeed, no lower than the reign of Selim the 
First; but, for the beauty of its composition, and the richness 
of its mattter, may be compared with the finest historical pieces 
in the languages of Europe. 

It will seem ridiculous to place a Turkish dictionary among 
these authorities; but it is certainly true that the great repository 
of Eastern learning , compiled by Meninski, contains not only 
the clearest explanation of common words, and proper names, 
but exhibits the most exact specimens of the colloquial expres¬ 
sions and forms of speech used by the Turks: and a judicious 
writer will not fail to observe the minutest phrases, or even 
the commonest proverbs, of a nation whom he intends to 
describe; since they sometimes comprise an allusion to local 
customs, and often include some maxim or received opinion, 
which may serve to set the character of the people in a striking 
light. It is a remark of Mr. Pope , in answer to a line of lord 
Hervey , that a dictionary which gives us any thing but words 
must be not only an expensive , but a very extravagant , one; yet, 
methinks, if a dictionary can be found, which is not very 
expensive , nor very extravagant , it cannot reasonably be 
j censured for giving us a little real knowledge as well as words . 

The History of the Turks , by the prince * Cantemir, far 
surpassed, in authority and method, every work on the same 

* It will give me pleasure to pay a small tribute in this place to the memory 
of that excellent man, by vindicating his character from the very unjust and 
groundless charges of M. de Voltaire, who allows, indeed, that he possessed the 
united talents of the ancient Greeks, a taste for polite letters, and a skill in the art 
of war. He adds, this Cantemir was supposed to be a descendant of Timur , 
known by the name of Tamerlane, because Timur and Temir sound nearly 
alike, and because the title of Kan , which Tamerlane bore, is found in the name 
of Cantemir. Now the ti*uth is, that the syllable Can is not * * khan, a title 

of honour, but * * kcm, blood; and the words Timur or Temir, are used in¬ 

differently in the Turkish language for Demir, that is iron, which was the precise 
meaning of Tamerlane’s true name :* so "that Cantemir literally signifies the blood 


Xbn Arabshah. 


APPENDIX. 


73 


subject in any European dialect. He was educated at Con¬ 
stantinople, and acquainted from his earliest youth with the 
genius and manners of the Turks; and as he was eminently 

ef Timur ; and the propriety of this name was confirmed by a Tartarian chief, 
who assured Demetrius , that a prince of his nation, lineally descended from 
Tamerlane , had married a Christian woman, from whom the family of the 
Cantemirs had their origin. But, continues the French historian, whatever might 
be the lineage of Cantemir , he owed all his fortune to the Turkish court; and was 
no sooner invested in his principality of Moldavia than he betrayed the sujtan, 
his benefactor, to the Russian emperor, from whom he had hopes of greater gain: 
The Czar, he adds, relying on his promises, advanced in the month of June to 
the banks of the river Hierasus , or the Pruth , where, by depending on Cantemir, 
he met the same hardships that his rival Charles had suffered at Pultava by having 
trusted to Mazeppa. It must have cost this ingenious writer some pains to have 
crowded so many errors into so few words. Cantemir inherited an ample fortune 
from his father, and lived at Constantinople in a splendid retreat, where he amused 
himself with building palaces near the Bosphorus, and adorning them with the 
finest remains of old Grecian sculpture, that could be procured: while he was 
engaged in these, and other agreeable pursuits, Brancovan, prince of Valachia, was 
accused of holding a secret correspondence with the Czar , and Cantemir , who 
accepted, much against his inclination, the title of Prince of Moldavia , was sent 
by the Turkish court with orders to seize the person of the rebel. As his revenues 
were not sufficient to support his new dignity, without some indulgence from the 
court, the sultan promised to dispense with his paying the usual fine * upon his 
investiture, and to defray the additional expenses that he might incur on account 
of the war; but the prince had no sooner reached the capital of Moldavia, than 
he received orders from the ministers to remit, without delay, the fines due to the 
sultan and the visir: to collect provisions for an army of sixty thousand Turks ; to 
complete the bridge over the Danube ; and to march in person towards Bender 
before the festival of St. George. The prince, upon receiving these commands, with 
which it was not in his power to comply, resolved to join the Czar, and was of 
signal service to him, as it appeared by the great regard which that monarch 
professed for him till the hour of his death. The distress of Peter was owing to 
his dependence on the promises of Brancovan , who had engaged to supply the 
Russians with provisions, yet remained an idle spectator of their calamity, till 
their camp was threatened with a famine. Thus, one of the finest writers of our 
age accuses a generous and amiable prince of ingratitude, avarice, and perfidy, 
merely for the sake of comparing him with Mazeppa, and of drawing a parallel 
between the conduct of Charles XII. and Peter I; and he deserves still more to be 
censured for deviating knowingly from the truth : since it appears, from some 
parts of his General History, that he had read the works of Cantemir, and admired 
his character. See the life of Charles XII. book 5. and the History of the Russian., 
Empire, vol. ii. chap. ii. 

* Called bv the Turks * * pishkesh. 

k 


74 


APPENDIX. 


skilled in the Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages, he Vras 
enabled to draw his knowledge of their affairs from the foun¬ 
tain head : for which reason, if his narrative were not rather too 
succinct, and if he had dwelt somewhat longer on the subject of 
the Eastern government and literature, or had unfolded all 
the causes of the greatness and decline of the Qthman empire, 
his. work would have been complete, and my present attempt 
entirely superfluous. As to his piece, considered as a literary 
performance, it contains all the qualities which Tully t lays 
down as necessary to constitute a perfect history:^ nothing is 
asserted in it that has the appearance of falsehood; nor any 
essential thing omitted that has the least colour of truth; there 
is no reason to suspect-the writer either of partiality or dis¬ 
affection : the order of time is accurately preserved, and the 
description of remarkable places frequently inserted; the 
author gives his judgment openly on the counsels of kings 
and generals; he relates the circumstances of every memorable 
act; and shews both the causes and consequences of everv 
important event: with regard to the persons, he describes the 
lives and characters not only of the sultans, but of all the emi¬ 
nent men who bore a considerable share in the great trans¬ 
actions of the nation: and he dresses the whole piece in an 
easy, natural, and flowing style, without affecting any merit, 
but that of clearness; except where, for the sake of variety, he 
drops a few flowery expressions in the Oriental manner. To 
which may be added, (a qualification that Cicero seems to have 
omitted in the passage just referred to) that he has made his 
work extremely agreeable*,,and has infused into it that exquisite 
charm,| so necessary in all finished compositions, which 
makes the reader leave it unwillingly, and return to it with 
eagerness. It is almost needless to say, after this just en¬ 
comium, that Cantemir’s history renders the compilations of 
Knolles and Rycaut entirely useless; though both of those works 
are well written, and the former even elegantly, for the age in 
which the author lived: yet I must do them the justice to 

* Cicero, de Ora tore, ii. 15. 

t fti^Tpov Kct) 'tvyyt t, as the Greeks called it. 


APPENDIX. 


75 


acknowledge that I have borrowed several hints from them, 
though I could not make any positive assertion upon their 
authority, as they were both ignorant of the Turkish language; 
and since a very sensible writer* observes, even of Plutarch , 
that though he was supposed to have resided in Rome near 
forty years, at different times, yet he seems never to have 
acquired a sufficient skill in the Roman language to qualify 
himself for the compiler of a Roman history, the same objec¬ 
tion may certainly be made to the two historians above men¬ 
tioned, one of whom spent most of his time in a college, and 
the other, though he resided many years in Turkey , was forced 
to converse with the Turks by the help of an interpreter. 

The letters of a lady, famed for her wit and hue taste, are 
in everybody’s hands; and are highly estimable, not only for 
the purity of the style, and the liveliness of the sentiments, 
but for the curious picture they give of the Turkish manners 
in the present age, and particularly of the women of rank at 
Constantinople , whose apartments could not be accessible to a 
common traveller. / /H < /H 

The author of Observations on the Government and 
Manners of the Turks had, from his residence in their metro¬ 
polis, and the distinguished part that he bore in it, an oppor¬ 
tunity of inspecting their customs, and forming a just idea of 
their character. It is a singular pleasure to me to find many 
of my sentiments confirmed by the authority of so judicious 
a writer; nor do I despair, if this essay should fall into his 
hands, of giving him a more favourable opinion of the 
Turkish language, which he supposes to be formed of the very 
dregs of the Persian and Arabian tongues , and a higher 
notion of the Persian poetry, which, he observes, it is almost 
impossible, as far as he can find, for the best translator to 
convert even into common sense.j' 

But the latest, and, perhaps, the most curious publication 
on the subject of the Turks was, A Treatise on Tactics , 
written in Turkish , in the year 1731, and translated, two years 

* Middleton, in the preface to his Life of Cicero. 

, f Second Edit. p. 38. 


APPENDIX. 


r6 

ago, by a foreign nobleman, who added to it a very sensible 
preface , and learned notes. It was the object of this little 
work to recommend to the Othman court the military dis¬ 
cipline of the Christians , and to display the advantage of that 
artful disposition of their troops, by which the timorous and 
suspected men are put under a necessity of fighting, even 
against their will; a disposition which Hannibal , and other 
great masters in the art of war, have followed with success; 
and which, if we believe Homer , was even as ancient as the 
siege of Troy: < 

The horse and chariot to the front assign’d ; 

The foot, the strength of war, he rang’d behind ; 

The middle space suspected troops supply. 

Enclos’d by both, nor left the power to fly. 

Pope’s Iliad , iv. 342. 

The whole treatise is entertaining and instructive; and 
though it is very imperfect, and often erroneous, where the 
Christians are mentioned, yet it supplied me with many im¬ 
portant lights, in my enquiry concerning the causes of the 
greatness and decline of the Turkish empire. 

These are the principal works in the languages of Europe , 
that have fallen into my hands, on the same subject with the 
following Essay ; and, though I have borrowed very freely 
from them all, yet, by making this general acknowledgment 
of my obligations to them, I obviate, I think, any objection 
that can be made on that head, and cannot justly be reputed 
a plagiary, if to the passages taken from others I add a series 
of remarks peculiar to myself. I very soon desisted from my 
search after the other books on the Turkish affairs, in the 
French and Italian languages; for after having rim over a 
great number of them, I found them to contain little more 
than the same facts, which are related more elegantly by the 
above-mentioned authors, with the addition of some idle 
fables and impertinent projects. As to the Creek writers of 
the Byzantine history, who have given us an account of the 
Turks , it was the less necessary to examine them with atten- 


APPENDIX. 


77 

tion, as Knolles seems to have reduced them to their quint¬ 
essence ; and indeed, the generality of those historians were 
more attentive to the harmony of their periods, and the beauty 
of their expressions, than either to the truth of the facts 
which they related, or to the solidity of the remarks deduced 
from them. They were no longer those excellent Greeks, 
whose works remain to this age, as a perfect example of the 
noblest sentiments delivered in the purest style: they seemed 
to think that fine writings consisted in a florid exuberance of 
words, and that, if they pleased the ear, they were sure to 
satisfy the heart; they even knowingly corrupted the Asiatic 
names, to give them a more agreeable sound,* by which they 
have led their successors into a number of ridiculous errors 
and have given their histories the air of a romance. 

Before I proceed to the books which the Turks themselves 
have written on their own affairs, it will be necessary to make 
a digression on their literature in general, lest the opinion 
which most men entertain of the Turkish ignorance should 
induce some of them to suspect the authority of these works 
or even to doubt of their existence. 

It is a ridiculous notion, then, which prevails among us, 
that ignorance is a principle of the Mahommedan religion, 
1/ and that the Koran instructs the Turks not to be instructed. 

I have heard many sensible men inveighing against the mean 
policy of Mahommed, who, they say, commanded his followers 
to be ignorant, lest they should one day or other learn that he 
had imposed upon them. There is not a shadow of truth in 
this : Mahommed not only permitted, but advised, his people 
to apply themselves to learning. He says expressly, in his 
strange book, where there are many fine ideas mixed with a 
heap of rubbish, that the man -who has knowledge for his 
portion has received a valuable gift; and, among his sayings, 
which were preserved by his intimate friends, and are now 
considered as authentic, there are several which recommend 
learning in the strongest terms ; as, the ink of the learned and 

* Thus they changed Togrul Beg into Tangrolipix , and 
Azzo'ddln * into Azatines . 

' * The strength, of religion. 


APPENDIX. 


rs 

the blood of martyrs are of equal value in heaven, and learning 
is permitted to all believers, both male and female: not to 
mention that precept of his, which is well known, Seek learn¬ 
ing, though it -were in China. 

There would be no end of quoting all the striking ex¬ 
pressions of this singular man, and the ablest professors of his 
religion in praise of knowledge and letters. Indeed, we all 
know, no modern nation was ever more addicted to learning 
of every kind than the Arabiaris; they cultivated some 
branches of science with great success, and brought their 
language to a high degree of clearness and precision; a proof 
that they had not only men of taste, but even many philoso¬ 
phers among them; for that language will always be most 
clear and precise, in which most works of real philosophy 
have been written. We are willing also to allow that the Per- 
sians have been a polite and ingenious people, which they could 
have been without a sufficient culture of their talents. They 
lay, for a long time, astonished and stupefied at the rapid 
progress of the Mohammedan arms; but when they began to 
revive, and had embraced the religion of their conquerors, 
they followed their natural bent, and applied themselves with 
great eagerness to the improvement of their language ; which 
was by that time grown {very rich by its mixture with the 
Arabic.' We are no less candid to the Indians, whom we 
know to h?ive been a wise and inventive nation : we read with 
pleasure their fables of Pilpai; we adopt their numerical cha¬ 
racters ; we divert and strengthen our minds with their game 
of Chess ; and of late years we have condescended to look into 
their writings; but, by a strange degree of obstinacy, we 
persist in considering the Turks as rude, savage, and not 
only unacquainted with the advantages of learning, but even 
its avowed persecutors. 

This prejudice, absurd as it may seem, is of very ancient 
growth; it was first brought into Europe at that memorable 
period when letters began to revive in the. west, and has con¬ 
tinued to this day, without any diminution. It was th<£ 
fashion in that age to look upon every person as barbarous, 
who did not study the philosophy of the old Academy ; and 


APPENDIX'. 


7$ 

because the Turks had driven the Greeks from their country, 
it was immediately concluded that they persecuted even the 
language and learning of that nation . 

It is certain, indeed, that the Turks were for many years 
wholly addicted to arms; but when they had secured their 
conquests in Asia, and especially when they were settled in. 
Constantinople ; they began to cultivate every species of litera¬ 
ture; and their sultans often set them the example. At that 
time they were so sensible of the high polish which learning 
gives to the manners of every nation, that they reflected with 
disdain on their ancient rudeness ; and one of their best poets, 
quoted by M. d' Herbelot, says, although the rude disposition of 
the Turks seemed to be a disorder that had no remedy, yet, when 
they dispersed the clouds of ignorance with the study of polite 
letters , many of them became a light to the world.* But here 
we must be understood to speak merely of poetry, rhetoric, 
moral philosophy, history, and the less abstruse parts of know** 
ledge; for we must confess, and the Asiatics confess them¬ 
selves, that they are far inferior to the natives of Europe in 
every branch of pure and mixed mathematics, as well as in 
the arts of painting and sculpture; which their religion forbids 
them to cultivate: a very absurd piece of superstition! which 
the Persians and Indians wisely neglected, as they knew that 
their legislator prohibited the imitation of visible objects to 
the Arabs of his age, lest they should relapse into their recent 
V folly of adorning images ; and that, when the reason of the 
law entirely ceases, the law itself ought also to cease. They 
begin, however, to imitate our studies ; and they would un¬ 
doubtedly have made a considerable progress in the sciences, 
if the press at Constantinople had not failed upon the death of 
Ibrahim, an officer of the Porte, and, what was more singular, 
a very learned and able printer, whose place has not yet been 
supplied. This enterprising Turk, who had learned Latin by 
his own industry, and was no contemptible writer in his 

* But this opinion is contradicts.1 by a satirist, who asserts that , if a 'Turk 
excelled in every branch of science, apd were the ablest scholar of his age, yet a. 
certain rudeness would ever adhere to his disposition. 


80 


APPENDIX. 


native language, founded a set of Arabic types, and printed, 
under the protection of the court, several pieces of Oriental 
history, some treatises of geography with maps, and an essay 
of his own upon the military discipline of the Europeans 
but none of his countrymen have continued his project ; 
because it is impossible to understand the classical writings of 
the Turks without more than a moderate knowledge of Per¬ 
sian and Arabic , to which none can pretend, who have not 
made those languages their particular study for many years ; 
and this is no doubt the reason, why there are fewer men of 
letters among the Turks than among us; for though an inti¬ 
mate acquaintance with the ‘ Greek and Roman authors is 
necessary to support the character of a scholar, yet, a very 
slight tincture of the ancient languages is sufficient for a popu¬ 
lar writer, and scarce any for a superficial reader. 

The Mahommedans in general are passionately fond of 
history, and not less so of that miscellaneous kind of learning 
which the Greeks called or a general knowledge of 

a vast variety of subjects.! The Turks have more historical 
pieces in their language than most European nations; and we 
may judge of their erudition by the large work composed in 
the seventeenth century by Catib'Aadeh , which contains an 
accurate account of all the books that had been written till his 
time in Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.% 

These works are very imperfectly known in Europe; for 

* See a catalogue of the books printed by Ibrahim , at the end of this 
discourse. 

•j- This kind of learning was called varia eruditio by the Romans , among 
whom Varro was the most eminent for it. The most curious and entertaining 
works of this nature are, the Banquet of Athenceus, the Nights of Aulus Geliius, and 
the Chiliads of Tzetzes; but the Arabians were fonder of this various erudition 
than any people whatever. This species of writing begins to grow con¬ 
temptible among us, since nothing can be more trifling than to transcribe our 
commcn-place,book, and nothing more easy than to quote a multitude of authors 
in the margin. 

^ The title of this book is Cashfo'zondn, or the Discovery of' Opinions; but it 
might justly be intitled, A comprehensive View of the Learning .of the Arabs , 
Persians, and Turks. M. d'Her be lot has inserted the best part of tlvis work in kis 
Biblbothiqiit Orientate, 


APPENDIX. 


81 


though Donado , a senator of Venice , and ambassador from that 
state to the Porte, published a short essay in Italian on the 
literature of the Turks , yet he knew little or nothing of their 
language, and took all his accounts of their books from an 
interpreter, who led him into several mistakes. 

The golden age of the Turkish learning was the reign of 
Soliman the Second, or The Legislator, in the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury; and, indeed, the most shining period in the history of 
any nation must certainly be that in which the example of the 
sovereign gives the nobles a turn for letters, and in which a 
reputation for knowledge opens a way to riches and honour. 

Ali Chelebi , who wrote a very celebrated book of morality, 
was appointed Molla , or ecclesiastical judge, of Adriano pie, 
and, had he lived, would have been raised to the dignity of 
Mufti, or supreme interpreter of the law. He had spent 
several years in composing an elaborate paraphrase of PilpaPs 
Fables , in which, however, he was a close imitator of an ex¬ 
cellent Persian author, named Cashef . His work, which he 
entitled Homaiun Nameh , contains fourteen sections in prose 
and verse, and a very elegant introduction, and an entertaining 
preface. I may justly assert that it comprises all the beauties 
of the Turkish language; but it is so mixed with Persian and 
Arabic phrases, that a Turk of no education would not be able 
to read a page of it. A beautiful copy of this book is preserved 
in the British Museum , among the manuscripts of Sir Hans 
Sloanep^ and it would be highly useful to any person, who 
had access to that collection, and wished to learn Turkish , 
especially as part of it has been translated into French , and 
part very elegantly into Spdnish, by the help of which transla¬ 
tions he might pursue his study with incredible ease, provided 
that he had a moderate knowledge of Arabic , which may truly 
be called the basis and groundwork of Eastern learning. 

This is the principal system of Ethics among the Turks , if 
we except, perhaps, a moral work on the duties of man , inti- 

* No. 3586. In the same collection, No. 5456, is a very agreeable romance, 
entitled, the Life of Abu Sina , by Hassan , preceptor to Morad the Third. Both 
these books, as well as the rest, which follow, are often cited by Meninski. 

I 


82 


APPENDIX. 


tuled, Icsfri devlet , which seems also to be written in a very 
polished style. The Tales of the Forty Visirs , composed by 
a preceptor of Morad the Second, are amusing and ingenious; 
but as they are not remarkable for any beauty of language, 
they do not deserve to be mentioned as a classical work; since 
an elegance of diction, as well as a loftiness of sentiment, are 
necessary to constitute a fine piece of writing. 

The noblest historical work in the Turkish language was 
composed by Saadeddn , who was Mufti of Constantinople in 
the reign of Morad the Third. It contains the history of the 
Othmans , from the founder of that family to Selim I. This 
elegant work has been translated into Italian by a very able 
interpreter of the Eastern language; and the excellent prince 
Cantemir has inserted the substance of it in his history of the 
Turks. 

There are a great number of other histories in Turkish , 
some of the whole Othman family, and some only of distinct 
reigns, as Solimam N^meh, the Life of Soliman , Selim Nam eh, 
the Life of Selim, and many more, which are highly esteemed 
by the Turks themselves; yet it must be confessed that the 
style of these writers, and principally of Saadeddin , by no 
means answers to our ideas of the simple and graceful diction, 
the kind of writing which Cicero commends, diffused , expanded , 
andflowing with a natural smoothness: on the contrary, most 
of their figures are so extravagant, and many of their expres¬ 
sions so ridiculously bombast, that an European must have a 
very singular taste, who can read them either with pleasure or 
patience;* but such is the genius of the nation; and we can 
no more wonder that their rules *>f composition are different 
from burs, than that they build their palaces of wood, and sit 
on sofas instead of chairs. 

The Byzantine historians cannot be so easily excused: 

* Thus a Turkish historian, instead of saying that a prince was just and pious, 
tells us that the footstool of his sovereignty was decked with the ornament of piety, 
and the throne of his dignity embellished with 1 the rich mantle of justice, R.utbeti 
khilafetleri zineti tekwa ileli ar&steh, we seriri seltanetleri hilyei maadilet ileli 
pirdsteh; the two members of which sentence end like a poetical couplet, with 
similar sounds. 


APPENDIX. 


83 


they had the finest models of composition before them, which 
they neglected; but the Turks cannot be condemned for de¬ 
parting from a standard of taste, of which they were wholly 
ignorant. 

It is by no means true, however, that the Asiatic histories 
are no more than chronicles, and contain no sensible remarks 
on the conduct of princes, whom they consider, we are told, 
as something more than mortal; there are, indeed, many dull 
compilations in the languages of Asia, as well as in those of 
Europe; but the most approved historians ot the East inter¬ 
sperse their narratives with excellent maxims, and boldly inter¬ 
pose their judgment on the counsels of ministers, and the 
actions of monarchs, unless when they speak of very recent 
events, and living characters, on which occasions they are 
more circumspect; and probably Saadeddin continued his 
history no lower than the reign of Selim , that he might not be 
restrained in his reflections by any fear of giving offence. 

I have not yet been fortunate enough to meet with the 
valuable work of All Efendi , containing the history of the lives 
of Mohammed II. Bayazid II. Selim , and Soilman , of which 
Prince Cantemir gives so high an encomium: “ This hook, 
“ says he, which is extremely scarce, contains every quality of 
“ an excellent history; a noble simplicity of style, a warm love 
“ of truth, and an abhorrence of flattery. . Iam indebted to this 
“ author ,” continues the Prince, u for many striking passages 
u in my own pieced 

The Turks have also many treatises on their government, 
laws, and giilitary institutions, which, if they were translated 
into some European language, would throw a wonderful light 
on the manners of this extraordinary nation, and present us 
with a full view of their real character. 

One of the most curious manuscripts that I have seen in 
the Turkish language is a very long roll of silky paper,* con¬ 
taining, as it were, a map of the Asiatic history from the ear¬ 
liest times to Selim the Second: the names of all the patriarchs, 
prophets, kings, sultans, and califs, who at any time flourished 


Bodl. Marsh. 196. 


84 


APPENDIX. 


in Asia, are set down in a genealogical order, in which the 
chronology also is carefully observed; and a summary account 
of their lives and actions is added to most of them. The wri¬ 
ter of it is more explicit wirh regard to the Othman family. I 
took care to compare his remarks with my other materials: the 
whole work is beautifully transcribed, and the name of Ma¬ 
tt o mm ed in particular is adorned with a garland of tulips and 
carnations, painted in the brightest colours. 

In the same collection with the preceding work^ is An His - 
tory °f the Othmans, from the founder of that race to Bayazid 
the Second: it is finely preserved, and written in an easy style. 
The prefatory chapter contains a just encomium of the first 
Turkish sultans, whose eminent abilities were a principal cause 
of the greatness of their empire. 

There is another work among Colius’s manuscripts,f which 
has been extremely useful to me. It is a register of all the 
officers of state, the servants of the court, and the Turkish 
forces, both by land and sea, with the daily and yearly ex¬ 
penses of supporting them, as they were established in the 
reign of Ahmed the First , at the opening of the last century; 
the second part contains an enumeration of all the Othman 
subjects in Europe and Asia, who hold their estates by a mili¬ 
tary tenure, with the exact number of soldiers that each pro¬ 
vince and district can produce. As this register was copied 
from an original in the imperial treasury, there can be no doubt 
of its authenticity. But the best modern histories of the Turks 
are those printed by Ibrahim, in the middle of the present cen¬ 
tury, which, together with several other fruits of that printer’s 
industry, were brought from Constantinople, by a late excel¬ 
lent ambassador, and presented to the Royal Society, in whose 
library they are preserved. 

* No. 313. Most of the manuscripts in this valuable collection of Marsh be¬ 
longed to the very learned G-olius, who has written notes in the margins with a 
blapk pencil. 

f Marsh 454. Golius has written the following title to this book: Imperii 
Osmanici Canon, continens qua- et quibus stipendia soluta fuerint imperante 
Ahmede ; unde patet qua: sit imperii illius potentia, Turcice, ex autograph© 
imperiali descriptum. 


APPENDIX. 


85 


The most agreeable of them is called by the florid title of 
Gulsheni Kholaf a,* or, the Rose-garden of the Califs, and com¬ 
prises, in a thin volume in folio, a very elegant history of the 
Turkish nation, from the Califs of the house of Abbas, one of 
whom imprudently established a militia of young Turks, to 
the year of Christ 1717, when Ahmed the Second sat on the 
Othman throne. 

The next is an History of the Turkish Empire, from the 
year 1591, by Hama. It is printed in two large volumes, and 
the continuation of it by Rashed Efendi fills two more; the 
fifth volume was added by another hand, and brings it down 
to 1^28, two years before the rebellion, and the deposition of 
Sultan Ahmed . This excellent work contains a narrative of all 
the memorable events that happened in the dominions of the 
Sultan, for a period of above an hyndred and thirty years; the 
embassies from all foreign powers, among whom the English 
are mentioned with regard; the reigns of eleven Othman em¬ 
perors, from the death of Morad III. to the last great sedition 
at Constantinople; the lives and characters of the most eminent 
visiers, and learned men, who flourished in those reigns; to¬ 
gether with a view of the affairs of Asia, and even of Europe, 
according to the notion that the Turks have of them ; which 
may serve to shew how far their intelligence reaches, and in 
what light they consider the genius, manners, and influence of 
the Christian world; we must not be disgusted at their false 
and absurd opinions concerning us; since the less they know 

* The author of this fine work was Nazmi Zada Efendi, who seems to have 
been in high favour with the Ulema, or Lawyers, and Ecclesiastics, of his age. 
The Mufti, and the two Chief Justices of Asia and Europe wrote the most pro¬ 
fuse encomiums of it, which are prefixed to the book. That of the Mufti has 
something so ridiculously bombast in it, that the reader will perhaps be pleased 
to see it literally translated, as it will give him an idea of the flowery style of the 
Asiatics: *" • ' f 

“ As this noble volume and elegant compilation records past events, and lavs 
“ open the causes of succeeding transactions, the pure stream of sense, that flows 
<e from the springs of its expressions, and the flowers of perspicuity, that arise 
“ from the borders of its rhetoric, together with the splendour of those chiefs, 
“ who fought for the faith ahd the empire, and the fragrant roses of the fame of 
“ those valiant heroes, are worthy of the attention of all intelligent men, and de- 
* £ serve the inspection of the discerning reader.” 


86 


APPENDIX. 


of our counsels and interests, and even the less respect they 
have for us, the greater advantage we shall obtain in our trans¬ 
actions with them; and, the less they are apprised of our real 
force, the fewer provisions will they have made against it, 
whenever we shall chuse to exert it. For my part, I cannot 
help thinking thatajuster notion of the government, laws, and 
policv of the Turks may be formed by an attentive perusal of 
NatmcCs History , than can be acquired from all the relations 
of our European travellers ; and that a single volume of it, ac¬ 
curately translated, would be more useful to us than the vast 
collections of Rycaut and Knolles , to which, however, I rea¬ 
dily allow the praise that they deserve. 

It may reasonably be supposed that, having drawn my ma¬ 
terials from these plentiful sources, I mean to present the 
public with a complete Histgry of the Turks ; but I reflected 
that, among the numerous events which must be recorded in 
the general history of any nation, there are very few which 
seem capable of yielding either pleasure or instruction to. a ju¬ 
dicious reader, who desires to be acquainted with past trans¬ 
actions, not because they have happened, but because he hopes 
to derive from them some useful lesson, for the conduct of his 
life. It seemed, therefore, more respectful to the public, and 
it was far more agreeable to my own inclination, to trace out, 
in the form of an essay, the great outlines only of the Turkish 
history , leaving all its minuter parts to be coloured by some 
abler pencil, and-perhaps the most interesting of them to be 
filled up by my rough crayon, Si some future occasion, or 
greater leisure, may invite me. Whatever then be the fate of 
mv performance, I have a claim in one instance to the indulg¬ 
ence of my reader, by having spared him the trouble of run¬ 
ning over all the idle fables , and even the dull truths , with 
with which my originals abound, and which I have suppres¬ 
sed in great number; since both of them are, in my opinion, 
highly disgraceful to an historical piece, in which nothing 
should be written that is fabulous , nor any thing , how true so¬ 
ever it may be , but what deserves to be read.* 

* Three pages of the original are here omitted, as it appears, by a manuscript 
note, that it was intended to alter them. 


APPENDIX. 


8 7 

As to the nature of my piece, though I have entitled it cm 
Essay on the History of the Turks, yet, from the age oi Eliza¬ 
beth to the present century, the history of our Trade to the Le¬ 
vant is interwoven with it, and a few hints are respectfully 
offered for its improvement; an object of the highest import¬ 
ance to the whole nation. The part which relates to the Causes 
of the Rise and Decline of the Turkish Empire was written after 
the model of M. de Montesquieu's Considerations on the Great¬ 
ness of the Romans; nor am I under any apprehension of being 
censured for imitating so excellent a pattern, to. which I may 
justly apply the words of Cicero , “ Demosthenem imitemur, 0 
“ DU bonil quid ergo nos aliud agimus , aut quid aliud opta- 
musf at non assequimur .” 


APPENDIX, 


THE following pages contain some compositions of Sir 
William Jones, which have not been printed. Theirs?, a 
little essay on the Grecian Orators, was written at the Univer¬ 
sity, and exhibits an elegant specimen of his early talents m 
the composition of Latin; more of the same kind might be 
added, but the curiosity of the reader on this subject may be 
gratified by a reference to the second volume of Sir William 
Jones’s Works. The reader will observe the connexion 
between the Essay now presented to him and the quotation 
which concludes the Preliminary Discourse in the preceding 
page. " W , 

The second is an Italian composition, written by Sir 
William Jones when he was studying that language; and I 
rely upon the judgment of a native of Italy, who has pro¬ 
nounced it classical and elegant. The third exhibits a curious 
specimen of th t form and measure of a Persian Ode of Jami, 
and on this account it is inserted. The fourth , a song from 
the Persian, is in the measure of the original,, and will not be 
thought deficient in beauty. The remaining compositions 
require no particular observation. 

For want of a fitter opportunity, I here transcribe, from the 
writings of Sir William Jones, the following lines: 

Bahman (a native ofYezd, and follower of the doctrines of 
Zoroaster) repeated this morning four glorious and pious 
verses, which ought to be engraven on every heart. 

VERSES. 

v' Make the worship of the Great Giver habitual. 

^ Reflect maturely on the day of thy departure, 
v Fear God, and do no wrong to man. 

^/This is the way to salvation, and this is enough. 




APPENDIX. 


89 

No. I. 

DE GRiECIS ORATORIBUS. 

Cum id potissimum dicendi studiosis adolescentibus 
praecipi soleat, ut unum e summis oratoribus deligant, quem 
tota. mente, tanquam pictores, intueantur, et quem labore 
maximo imitentur; cum verb studioso cuivis perdifficile sit 
oratorem deligere, cui similis esse aut velit aut debeat, visum 
est mihi pauca de Grascis oratoribus disserere, interque eos 
praecipue de Demosthene, quem nemo est, opinor, qui non 
imitari cupiat, nemo qui eximias ejus virtutes imitando se 
assequi posse confidat; sed prima appetenti , ut pulchre ait 
Cicero, honestum est in secundis vel tertiis consistere. 

De oratoribus autem, qui Athenis floruerunt, tractaturus, 
vereor ut Lysiam et Isocratem , in eorum numero possim repo- 
nere, quos magis polite scribendi, quam diserte dicendi, pal- 
mam consecutos esse puto, magis elegantice laude fuisse 
insignes, quam eloquentiae gloria. Is enim, qui sive pudore, 
sive imbecillitate deterritus, in arma nunquam prodeat, sed 
in ludo solum oratiunculas scriptitet, utcunque eae subtiles sint 
atque eruditae, scriptor quidem venustus ac diligens dici 
potest, sed quomodo orator appellandus sit non video. 

Alii tamen complures, quorum orationes ad nos pervene- 
runt, non in pompa et gymnasio, sed in ipsa acie habitae, 
eloquentes vere nominantur; inter quos, acumine Dinarchus 
praestitisse videtur, vi ac lepore Demades , gravitate Lycurgus , 
sonitu JEschines et splendore dictionis ; sed hae dicendi vir¬ 
tutes in Demosthene uno omnes reperiuntur; gravis idem fuit 
ac subtilis, vim habuit pariter et splendorem ; nec lepos sane 
ille defuit, licet plerique aliter sentiant, sed elatus, minax, et 
sui proprius. 

Ilium igitur unicuique vestrbm, qui legum et eloquentiae 
studio incenditur, propono, quem in primis miremini, quem 
imitemini summo studio, cujus orationes non perlegatis solum, 
sed patrio sermone reddatis, sed memoriter recitetis ; ea vos 


m 


90 


APPENDIX. 


exercitatio diligenter continuata tales et verborum oratores, 
et aetores rerum efficiet, qualis apud Athenienses , prseter 
ipsum demosthenem nemo fuit. 

No. II. 

TERZETTI. 

Gia rosseggiavi intorno all’ orizzonte 
Dolce color d’oriental rubini, 

E innanzi al biondo padre di Fetontc 
Spargea 1’Aurora rose e gelsomini: 

Cantando a gara amorosetti lai 
Sen gian di ramo in ramo gli augellini, 
Quando presso al ruscel cos: cantai : 
w Ahi, Ninfa mia, ritrosa e vezzosetta, 
Laprima ond’io m’accessi e m’infiammai, 
Quando ti vidi pria sopra l’erbetta, 

Pien di viole e di ligustri il grembo, 
Tessendo un’ amorosa ghirlandetta, 

Sedevi, oime! sotto un soave nembo 
Di rose, e la tua raano alabastrina 
Sostenea di tua gonna il ricco lembo, 

E sulla mano era la guancia inchina, 

Qual fior che pende sul nativo stelo, 

Che imbianca, o gelo o pioggia cristallina. 
Scendesti allor cred’ io dal terzo cielo 
Per ingannar gl’ incauti e rozzi petti; 

O la sorella del gran Dio di Delo, 

O colei fosti che ne’ boschi eletti 

Di Cipro e Pafo per Adon sospira. 

Dacchi mirai tuoi risi leggiadretti, 

Rauco era il suon di canna e flauto e lira; 

Ne piacque piu 1’usata compagnia. 

Or ogni pastorella che mi mira 


APPENDIX. 


Si burla della mia malinconla ; 

Chi fra romiti monti, e sopra il sasso 
Sempre sfogando vo’ l’ambascia mia; 

Ed erro, non so dove, passo passo, 

Piangendo s', che da sua stanza nera 
Eco risponde a’ miei singulti: Ahi lasso! 

Ah, se mai mi dara la donna altera 
Soavi baci, o quel che piu desio, 

Allor, allor, con voce lusinghiera, 

Cantero lietamente il fausto Dio 

D’amore: Amor risponderanno i colli: 
Vedranno i vezzi nostri, e’l gaudio mio 
I cespugli fioriti e gli antri molli. 

IMITATIONS. 

Line 2. Dolce color, &c. 

Dolce color d’oriental zaffiro 

Che s’accoglieva nel sereno aspetto 

Dell’ aer puro. Dante, Par. c. 1. 

Line 5. Cantando a gara, &c. 

Odi quel rusignolo 
Che va di ramo in ramo 

Cantando: Io amo, io amo. Tasso, Am. At 1. S. 1. 
Line IS. Sedevi orme, &c. 

Da’ be’ rami scendea 
Dolce nella memoria, 

Una pioggia di fior sopra’l suo grembo; 

Ed ellasi sedea, 

Umile in tanta gloria, 

Coverta gia dell’ amoroso nembo ; 

Qual fior cadea sul lembo, 

Qual su le treccie bionde 
Ch’ oro forbito e perle 
Eran quel di a vederle : 

Qual si posava in terra, e qual su 1’onde; 


92 


APPENDIX. 


Qual con un vago errore 

Girando, parea dir: u qui regna Amore.” 

Pet. Par. 1. Can. 14.* 

Line 35. Soavi baci, &c. 

Ella mi seque 

Dar promettendo a chi m’insegna a lei 
O dolci baci, o cosaaltra piu cara...Tasso, Am. Prologo. 


No. III. 


An ODE of JAMI, 

In the Persian form and measure. 


How sweet the gale of morning breathes! 
News, that the rose will soon approach. 
Soon will a thousand parted souls 
Since tidings, which in every heart 
Late near my charmer’s flowing robe 
Thence, odour to the rose bud’s veil, 

Painful is absence, and that pain 
Thouknow’st, dear maid! when to thine ear 
Why should I trace love’s mazy path. 

Black destiny! my lot is woe, 

In vain a friend his mind disturbs. 

When sage physician to the couch 
A roving stranger in thy town, 

’Till this his name, and rambling lay, 


Sweet news of my delight he brings; 
the tuneful bird of night , he brings, 
be led, his captives, through the sky, 
must ardent flames excite, he brings, 
he pass’d, and kiss’d the fragrant hem; 
and jasmine’s mantle •white, he brings, 
to some base rival oft is ow’d; T 
false tales contriv’d in spite he brings, 
since destiny my bliss forbids ? 
to me no ray of light he brings, 
in vain a childish trouble gives, 
of heart-sick love-lorn wight he brings, 
no guidance can sad Jami find, 
to thine all piercing sight he brings. 


No. IV. 


A SONG, from the Persian, paraphrased in the measure 

of the original. 

1 . 

Sweet as the rose, that scents the gale, 

Bright as the lily of the vale : 

* Sir William Jones has given a beautiful translation of this passage of 
Petrarch. See Works, vol. iv. p. 456. 


APPENDIX. 


93 


Yet, with a heart like summer hail, 

Marring each beauty thou bearest. 

2 . 

Beauty like thine all nature thrills, 

And when the Moon her circle fills, 

Pale she beholds those rounder hills, 

Which on the breast thou wearest. 

* 

3. 

Where could those peerless flow’rets blow ? 
Whence are the thorns that near them grow ? 
Wound me, but smile, O lovely foe, 

Smile on the heart thou tearest. 

4. 

Sighing, I view that cypress waist, 

Doom’d to afflict me till embrac’d ; 

Sighing, I view that eye too chaste, 

Like the new blossom smiling. 

5 . 

Spreading thy toils with hands divine, 

Softly thou wavest like a pine, ^ 

Darting thy shafts at hearts like mine, 

Senses and soul beguiling. 

6 . 

See at thy feet no vulgar slave, 

Frantic, with love’s enchanting wave, 

Thee, ere he seek the gloomy grave, 

Thee, his blest idol styling. 

Lady Jones having been exposed to some danger in a* 
evening walk over the plains of Plassey, Sir William almost 
immediately wrote the following stanzas: 


94 


APPENDIX. 


No. V. 

PLASSEY-PLAIN* 

A ballad, addressed to Lady Jones, by her Husband. 

Aug . 3, 1784. 

’Tis not of Jafer, nor of Clive, 

On Plassey’s glorious field I sing; 

’Tis of the best good girl alive, 

Which most will deem a prettier thing. 

The Sun, in gaudy palanqueen, 

Curtain’d with purple, fring’d with gold, 

Firing no more heav’n’s vault serene, 

Retir’d to sup with Ganges old. 

When Anna, to her bard long dea£, 

(Who lov’d not Anna on the banks 
Of Elwy swift, or Testa clear ?) 

Tripp’d thro’ the palm-grove’s verdant ranks. 

Where thou, blood-thirsty Subahdar , 

Was wont thy kindred beasts to chase, 

Till Britain’s vengeful hounds of war, 

Chas’d thee to that well-destin’d place. 

She knew what monsters rang’d the brake, 

Stain’d like thyself with human gore, 

The hooded and the necklac’d snake, 

The tiger huge, and tusked boar. 

To worth, and innocence approv’d, 

E ’en monsters of the brake are friends : 

Thus o’er the plain at ease she mov’d— 
u- Who fears offence, that ne’er offends ? 

* It can scarcely be necessary to recall to the recollection of the reader the 
victory gained by Lord Clive, over Seraj’uddoula, SubahdSr or Viceroy of 
Bengal, on Plassey Plain. 


APPENDIX. 


95 


Wild perroquets first silence broke, 

Eager of dangers near to prate ; 

But they in English never spoke, 

And she began her moors* of late. 

Next patient dromedaries stalk’d, 

And wish’d her speech to understand j 
But Arabic was all they talk’d— 

Oh, had her Arab been at hand l 

A serpent dire, of size minute, 

With necklace brown, and freckled side, 

Then hasten’d from her path to shoot, 

And o’er the narrow causey glide. 

Three elephants, to warn her, call; 

But they no western tongue could speak; 

Tho’ once, at Philobiblian stall, 

Fame says, a brother jabber’d Greek. 

Superfluous was their friendly zeal; 

For what has conscious truth to fear? 

Fierce boars her pow’rful influence feel, 

Mad buffaloes, or furious deer. 

E’en tigers, never aw’d before, 

And pan ingfor so rare a food, 

She dauntless heard around her roar, 

0 While they the jackals vile pursued. 

No wonder, since, on Elfin Land, 

Prais’d in sweet verse by bards adept, 

A lion vast was known to stand, 

Fair virtue’s guard, while Una slept. 

Yet, oh! had one her perils known, 

(Tho’ all the lions in all space 
Made her security their own) 

He ne’er had found a resting place. 

* A common expression for the Hindustanee, or vernacular language of India. 


96 


APPENDIX. 


No. VI. 

On seeing ]\f iss ^ ^ ^ ride by him without knowing her. 

Cardigan , August 14ith, 1780. 

So lightly glanc’d she o’er the lawn, 

So lightly through the vale, 

That not more swiftly bounds the fawn, 

In Sidon’s palmy dale. 

Full well her bright-hair’d courser knew 
Flow sweet a charge he bore, 

And proudly shook the tassels blue, 

That on his neck he wore. 

Her vest, with liveliest tincture glow’d. 

That summer-blossoms wear, 

And wanton down her shoulders flow’d 
Her hyacinthine hair. 

Zephyr, in play, had loos’d the string, 

And with it laughing flown, 

Diffusing, from his dewy wing, 

A fragrance not his own. I 

Her shape was like the slender pine, 

With vernal buds array’d: 

O heav’n ! what rapture would be mine, 

To slumber in its shade. 

Her cheeks—one rose had Strephon seen. 

But, dazzled with the sight, 

At distance view’d her nymph-like mien, 

And fainted with delight. 

He thought Diana from the chace 
V/as hastening to her bow’r, 

For more than mortal seem’d a face. 

Of such resistless pow’r. 


APPENDIX. 


9 7 


Actseon’s fatal change he fear’d, 

And trembled at the breeze ; 

High antlers had his fancy rear’d, 

And quiv’ring sunk his knees. 

He well might err—that morn confess’d* 

The queen, with silver beam, 

Shone forth, and Sylvia thus address’d, 

By Tivy’s azure stream. 

u Let us this day our robes exchange ; 

“ Bind on my waxing moon ; 

u Then through yon woods at pleasure range* 
u And shun the sultry noon. 

“ Whilst I at Cardigan prepare 
a Gay stores of silk and lace, 

“ Like thine, will seem my flowing hair, 

“ Like thine, my heav’nly grace. 

“ My brother Phoebus lost his heart 

u When first he view’d thy charms ; 

“ And would this day, with dang’rous art* 

“ Allure thee to his aftns. 

“ But Cynthia, friend to virgins fair, 

“ Thy steps will ever guide, 

“ Protect thee from th’ enchanting snare, 

“ And o’er thy heart preside. 

u In vain his wiles he shall essay, 
w And touch his golden lyre ; 

“ Then to the skies shall wing his way, 

“ Witli pale, yet raging, fire. 

a Should he with lies traduce the fair, 
u And boast how oft he kiss’d her, 

“ The gods shall laugh while I declare, 

“ He flirted with his sister.” 

n 


98 


APPENDIX. 


No. VII. 

Au FIRMAMENT. 

u Would I were yon blue field above* 
(Said Plato, warbling am'rous lays) 
iC That, with ten thousand eyes of love, 
u On thee for ever I might gaze !” 

My purer love the wish disclaims: 

For were I, like Tiresias, blind, 

Still should I glow with heavenly flames, 
And gaze with rapture on thy mind. 

No. VIII. 

SONG. 

Wake, ye nightingales, oh, wake! 

Can ye, idlers, sleep so long? 

Quickly this dull silence break; 

Burst enraptur’d into song: 

Shake your plumes, your eyes unclose, 
No pretext for more repose. 

Tell%ne not that winter drear 
Stil&delays your promis’d tale, 

That no blossoms yet appear. 

Save the snow-drop in the dale; 

Tell me not the woods are bare; 

Vain excuse! prepare! prepare! 

View the hillocks, view the meads; 

All are verdant, all are gay; 

Julia comes, and with her leads, 

Health, and Youth, and blooming May. 
When she smiles, fresh roses blow, 
Where she treads fresh lilies grow. 


APPENDIX. 


99 


Hail! ye groves of Bagley, hail! 
Fear no more the chilling air: 

Can your beauties ever fail? 

Julia has pronounc’d you fair. 

She could cheer a cavern’s gloom, 
She could make a desert bloom. 


Amongst the manuscript papers of Sir William Jones, 
written in Bengal, I find the delineation of the plan of a Tra¬ 
gedy on the story of SOHRAB, a Persian hero, who acts a 
short but conspicuous part in the heroic poem of Ferdfisi, the 
Homer of Persia. The story, in the original, is in substance 
as follows: 

Rustum, the hero of Oriental Romance, was married to 
Tahmina, the daughter of the king of Summungan , a city on 
the confines of Tartary. He left her in a state of pregnancy, 
giving her a bracelet, which, in the event of the birth of a child, 
she was to bind on its arm. She was delivered of a son . Tah- 
mina, apprehensive that Rustum would deprive her of him, in¬ 
formed him that she had a daughter, and Rustum entertained 
no suspicion of the deceit. Sohr.ub inherited the heroic spirit 
of his father, whom, when he grew up, he was most anxious to 
see; and when he had attained the age of puberty, he formed a 
plan for attacking Kaoos, the king of Persia, in the declared 
intention of depriving him of his crown, and facing it on the 
head of Rustum. 

Afrasiab, the sovereign of Tartary, who was apprised of 
the parentage of Sohrdb , eagerly seconded the views of the 
youth, as a long hereditary enmity had subsisted between the 
two monarchs of Persia and Tartary. He accordingly offered 
to furnish Sohrdb with an army, sending with it, at the same 
time, two generals, on whom he relied, with secret instruct 
tions to prevent the discovery of Rustum by Sohrdb, and to 
endeavour to bring them to a single combat, hoping that the 
youthful vigour of Sohrdb would overcome Rustum , and pave 
the way to the conquest of Persia. After the death of Rustum , 


100 


APPENDIX. 


he proposed to destroy Sohrdb by treachery. This insidious 
scheme succeeded in part. Sohrdb , with the Tartarian army, 
invaded Persia, and was opposed by the Persian troops, whom 
he defeated in several engagements. The anxious endeavours 
of Schr'b , to discover his lather, were frustrated by the false¬ 
hood and treachery of the generals of Afrasiab; and the two 
heroes met in battle without knowing each other, although 
Sohrdb suspected his antagonist to be Rustum , and even men¬ 
tioned his suspicion to him, which Rustum denied. The two 
warriors engaged in single combat three times; on the second 
day, Sohrdb had the advantage, and Rustum saved his life by 
artifice; on the third, the strength and skill of Rustum prevail¬ 
ed, and he seized the opportunity, by plunging his dagger in 
the breast of his son, who, before he expired, discovered him¬ 
self to his father, and was recognized by him. The distress of 
Sohrdb , the affliction of Rustum, increased to agony by the 
sight of the bracelet, which he had presented to Tahmina ,,on 
the arm of Sohrdb , and afterwards exasperated to madness by 
the refusal of Kaoos, to supply him with a remedy which he 
possessed of infallible efficacy, and the inconsolable anguish of 
Tahmina , on learning the death of her son, are described by 
Ferdusi with great beauty and pathos; and the whole story 
forms one of the most affecting and poetical incidents in the 
Shahnameh, 

I wish it \yere in my power to gratify the reader with a 
translation of it; but I want both time and abilities for the 
task. I shall, however, venture to present him with the ver¬ 
sion of a few lines, which Ferdusi puts into the mouth of Soh^ 
rdb , immediately after he had received the fatal wound, des¬ 
cribing the mode in which the two heroes discovered each 
other; the passage (in the original at least) is neither deficient 
in merit nor interest. 


To find a father only known by name, 

Wretch that I am, I sought the field of fame. 
Vain hope! thy hand has seal’d a mother’s woes; 
On the cold sod flay head must now repose. 


APPENDIX. 


101 


Yet, hero! deem not unreveng’d I bleed, 

Paternal vengeance marks thy ruthless deed. 

No! couldst thou quit this earth, and viewless trace, 

On airy pinions borne, the realms of space, 

Or, like a fish, the ocean’s depths pervade, 

Or, like the night, involve thy form in shade, 

My sire, pursuing, shall revenge my death. 

“ What sire?” the victor cries; with falt’ring breath, 

“ Rustum!” (the youth rejoins) “ Tamina fair, 

“ My spotless mother, nam’d me RustunCs heir.” 

The plan of the proposed Tragedy appears to have been 
frequently revised and corrected; the business of eafch act is 
detailed; but, after all, it is too imperfect for publication. From 
the introduction of a chorus of Persian Sages or Magi, it may 
be inferred that Sir William Jones proposed writing it after 
the model of the Greek tragedy, and he certainly intended to 
observe a strict adherence to the costume of the age and coun¬ 
try in which the events of his Tragedy were supposed to have 
occurred. 

The following Epode is the only part of the composition 
sufficiently complete for the reader’s perusal. 

EPODE. 

What pow’r, beyond all pow’rs elate, 

Sustains this universal frame ? 

’Tis not nature, ’tis not fate, 

’Tis not the dance of atoms blind, 

Etherial space, or subtile flame ; 

No; ’tis one vast eternal mind, 

Too sacred for an earthly name. 

He forms, pervades, directs the whole; 

Not like the microcosm’s imag’d soul, 

But provident of endless good, 

By ways nor seen, nor understood, 

Which e’en his angels vainly might explore. 

High their highest thoughts above, 

Truth, wisdom, justice, mercy, love, 


102 


APPENDIX, 


Wrought in his heav’nly essence, blaze and soar. 
Mortals, who his glory seek, 

Rapt in contemplation meek, 

Him fear, him trust, him venerate, him adore. 

I close the volume with some lines on his death, written 
by her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire, and inserted at the 
particular request of Lady Jones. 

On the Death of Sir William Jones. 

Teignmouth , 1795. 

Unbounded learning, thoughts by genius fram’d, 

To guide the bounteous labours of his pen, 
Distinguish’d him, whom kindred sages nam’d, 

“ The most enlighten’d of the sons of men.”* 

Upright through life, as in his death resign’d, 

His actions spoke a pure and ardent breast; 

Faithful to God, and friendly to mankind, 

His friends rever’d him, and his country blest. 

Admir’d and valued in a distant land, 

His gentle manners all affection won; 

♦ The prostrate Hindu own’d his fostering hand, 

And Science mark’d him for her fav’rite son. 

Regret and praise the general voice bestows, 

And public sorrows with domestic blend; 

But deeper yet must be the grief of those, 

Who, while the sage they honor’d, lov’d the friend. 

* Dr. Johnson. 


FINIS. 





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